A Day in the Life: a Tokyo Babylon Story
by RuthanneReid
Summary: Subaru Sumeragi, head of the Sumeragi clan, faces a challenge unlike any he's ever seen before - one that threatens to turn his very own loved ones against him. Intended as an insert to the Tokyo Babylon timeline - COMPLETE
1. Default Chapter

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 1---**_

**Note: I have used some Japanese terms in this fic (which I normally try NOT to do) because there simply wasn't a good English equivalent; however, since I'm not mean, I also included a full translation. Please visit http://trinsan.com/tb/daynotes.html and keep that open as a separate window - you can refer to it any time you like during the fic. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

It was undeniably true that exams did not and never would cause nearly as much mayhem as the demons, spells, criminals and hauntings that Subaru Sumeragi dealt with did. However, because he did see those things on a daily basis, often to the total exclusion of the former, Subaru Sumeragi could only regard the simple biology quiz before him with heart-pounding terror.

He hadn't even attended this class in well over a week.

In a way, it really wasn't his fault; the work he did and the responsibilities he carried did not lend themselves to crafting a regular schedule, and as he was the future head of the Sumeragi clan, Subaru had so much to do that even attending regular school was above and beyond his required dedication. He'd already completed all the education he needed legally in Japan; this current education he sought simply because he wanted to. As often as possible, Subaru worked his way honestly through his classes, choosing not to take advantage of the leeway his teachers offered; it was for this reason that he felt very conspicuous raising his hand to get his biology teacher's attention.

"Yes, Sumeragi-san; approach," said the woman, signaling him closer so their conversation would not bother the other students.

"I... ah... pardon me," Subaru said, flushing slightly red. His teacher, a young woman who couldn't be more than twenty five, smiled warmly. 

"Sumeragi-san," she said. "It's all right. You may go."

"But - " Subaru started, feeling slightly relieved but much more guilty.

She waved her hand. "It's all right," she said, her tone more motherly than she'd meant it to be. "I have some extra assigments you can do to make up for your missed schooling, and you can make up the quiz next week." She handed him a manilla folder.

Subaru looked very grateful - but still guilty. "Thank you. I - thank you."

"Of course, Sumeragi-san," she said, still smiling. 

"Thank you!" he said again more jubilantly, and bowed sharply. Placing the pencil and paper on her desk, he left.

There was that momentary lifting of heart that one feels when leaving a classroom and exam behind. Coating it underneath, of course, like a slick of oil, was a thing layer of guilt; but that was already diminishing. And really, this was for the best anyway; Subaru had another appointment in the afternoon, and now, he could be sure of not missing it. Adjusting the hat his sister made him wear, he stepped out into the school parking lot and squinted at the sun.

The gloves he wore over his hands did nothing to dull the ache.

Power - strange, foreign power -settled around him like dust, as it had every time he'd concentrated on the spiritual balances of Tokyo in the last few weeks. Something was out there, something strange, malevolent; something Subaru had been completely unable to identify, although by now he'd learned to recognize its effects.

A simple exorcism turned into a murder.

An everyday curse-reversal that had somehow become a firestorm.

A traditional haunting that had instead mutated into an angry poltergeist.

All of these things and more were tied in with this new and strange evil that he felt, but Subaru could not explain why, nor where to find it. Until he did, he was literally reduced to cleaning up after it; there simply wasn't anything to directly confront. Eyes still closed, Subaru stood so deep in his concentration that when a hand suddenly alighted on his shoulder, he jumped very badly.

"SUBARU!" Hokuto scolded, hands on her hips and her volume level admirable. "That was TERRIBLE! We snuck right up on you! What if we'd been BAD guys?"

Subaru was clearly used to dealing with his sister's outbursts; exhaling slowly, his shoulders untensed. "But... Hokuto-chan, we've been over this, you're NOT bad guys..."

"Oh, but I think I am, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said, coming up from behind and sliding his arms around Subaru's waist. Somehow, regardless of how quickly Subaru had turned, Seishirou had moved faster - staying behind him enough that not even Subaru's peripheral vision had caught him.

"I think I'm VERY dangerous to you," Seishirou confided winningly, and both he and Hokuto shared a hearty if perverted belly laugh. Subaru stammered and blushed to the tips of his ears.

"Just... I... what are you doing here? I have an assignment," he said, trying to surreptitiously wriggle out of Seishirou's arms without appearing overly rude.

"Oh, I know," Hokuto said. "And as usual, you forgot to eat. Didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?" She leveled a finger in his face, then continued without waiting for him to answer. "I figured since both Sei-chan and I worry about you so much, we'd come and stalk you before your appointment to make sure you ate. So, we came to CLAMP campus!" And she smiled.

"S-s-STALK me?!" blurted Subaru, and then blinked as a small, neatly wrapped box lunch appeared in front of his face.

"Itadakimasu!" Seishirou announced, smling broadly as he held out the meal.

"You cooked something for me?" Subaru said, sounding amazed; it wasn't as if either Hokuto or Seishirou ever skimped on doing nice things for him - quite the opposite - but Subaru was wired to view things so simply and so humbly that every nice deed to him was taken and treasured as if of pure gold. "Thank you," he said with wonder, taking it.

Hokuto swatted his arm. "Don't you 'thank you' us and then not eat it! You HAVE to eat it, Sumeragi Subaru! OH ho ho ho ho ho!"

Subaru blushed. The whole campus could probably hear her.

* * *

"On batarei yo sowaka... on batarei yo sowaka...." Subaru chanted, kneeling before the small pile of bric-a-brac his clients had put before him. There was a book; three shoes; an old, weathered traveling trunk; and a slender vase. As he chanted, blue, amorphous light began to rise from the pile, like glowing smoke.

"Makabodara... Manihandomajin... Parahara paritayanam...." His chant changed. It was uncertain whether his clients realized the difference or not, but it wouldn't matter as long as he was able to keep the suddenly disgruntled spirit he felt out of the way. The blue "smoke" widened and grew, lengthening all the way up to the high ceilings of the affluent apartment; not dissipating, it simply began to split into tendrils and spread across the room.

"Makabodara... Manihandomajin... Parahara paritayanam...." Subaru focused more. This should not be happening; the call had been regarding simply nothing more than the lingering thoughts and emotions of the former owner of these items, which were bought at a rummage sale by the youngest daughter in the family. The spirit was friendly; why in the world would it be doing this? 

"Saraba arata sadanei... sarabakyara kishougyarei..." The blue smoke had reached the corners of the ceiling and begun slithering down the walls, looking slimy, almost corporeal, and far too menacing to be the manifestation of a friendly spirit any longer. Across from Subaru, the frightened family members huddled and stared, making soft whimpering noises and not taking their eyes from the tendrils. Subaru's chant had changed yet a second time; no longer a simple push to remove friendly spirits from objects, nor a harder push to remove angry spirits from objects, he was now chanting a powerful exorcism spell. 

And then, everything happened at once.

The blue, fibrous tendrils that had come halfway down the walls suddenly stopped and angled at ninety degees, shooting with sudden speed and slimy dexterity into the dead center of the room.

"GET DOWN!" Subaru pounced, shouting another smaller, protection spell over the family as he pushed them to the floor - and not a moment too soon. Above the frightened family members, the blue smoky tendrils met, inaudibly, and began to pull together, swirling, spinning, forming like clay on a potter's wheel, and as it did a strange and painful sound began. It was wailing. Wailing, bringing to mind every dream in every heart that had ever been shattered, somehow resonating in a broken-glass screeching of incredibly high levels and ear-bleeding intensity.

Subaru slapped an ofuda on the floor, raising a small barrier around the family. Now he was free to deal with the problem; standing, he faced the forming ghost. Power blew things in the room all around him as in a wild storm; grimacing in concentration, he folded his hands carefully and resumed his chanting.

The ghost coalesced finally, all the blue smoke from the items on the floor coming together to create the form of a woman, floating three feet above the ground and only just brushing the expansively high ceiling. Her dress, old fashioned, was in tatters, and her eyes were wide in blank, angry horror. So was her mouth; the rictus deforming it was so stark that the lines on each side of her lips were like black canyons.

Subaru continued to chant.

The woman seemed to focus on him, although without pupils it was hard to tell just how she did this, and it was clear she did not like what she saw. Leaning slightly forward as if to blast him with just the power of her voice, she screamed.

Every piece of glass in the room shattered; Subaru felt tears streaming behind him from his eyes at the pain in his ears, his hat flying off to land in the growing pile behind him somewhere. All around him, objects of every size and consideration were flying, including the furniture. 

Rooted by his magic, he continued to stand; and protected by his kekkai, the family stared in awe-struck terror at his strength. None of them noticed the barrier had begun to crack.

Not satisfied with the result, the ghostly woman pulled back and leaned forward sharply again, as if to vomit on this affront to her power, and somehow, screamed even louder.

The sound, higher than the scream of old brakes, fluxuating in intensity as if with a terrible, slow vibrato, filled the room and finding it could go no farther, spilled out into the street. It cut like knives; the entire buliding began to shake, and Subaru knew that once this was finished, he would be deaf. 

He did not stop his chanting. 

The woman finally ran out of what passed for her breath, and watched Subaru again for a moment, whose chanting - _saraba arata sadanei... sarabakyara kishougyarei_ - had remained steady, as did his gaze on her. Furious, she drew back for yet another assault.

And then, once again, something happened. 

She stopped; a shadow of expression passed over her mummified features, and she hesitated long enough for Subaru to cast his powerful spell. 

"Noubu aratannou tarayaaya... Nou makuariya mitabaya... Tatagyataya arakatei sanmyaku sambodya!" And white light, moving like doves in the spring and flowers underwater, erupted from his folded hands and surrounded the woman floating in the air. She screamed again, but this time it had no power.

"Noubu aratannou tarayaaya... Nou makuariya mitabaya... Tatagyataya arakatei sanmyaku sambodya!" Her body began to shrink; to cave in on itself, as if whatever she had for bones had simply disappeared, leaving her flesh and skin hollow.

"Noubu aratannou tarayaaya... Nou makuariya mitabaya... Tatagyataya arakatei sanmyaku sambodya!" With one final scream, almost a squeak in its anticlimactic finale, the woman completely imploded into a ball of glowing blue light. And quietly, somehow heard above the wind and the noise and the cries, Subaru spoke.

"I'm sorry." He altered the configuration of his fingers three times. "On vajra dharma kiri shawa!" And three sides of a triangle, darker and richer in hue than what remained of the woman, came from opposite ends of the room and clasped around her to form what looked like a small, pyramid-like prison. "HA!" Subaru cried, and with one last sharp control of power, simply banished the entire bound, miserable spirit to somewhere else.

The utter silence was deafening. Subaru stood, trembling for a moment in the wake of the attack, and then removed the cracked but surviving kekkai from his clientele.

The youngest girl rushed to him right away.

"That was so COOL! That was, like... you're AMAZING! That - " she stopped as her mother, face utterly bloodless, pulled her back.

The other family members were staring at him as if he were the monster.

"Ah... thank you," said the father, a Mr. Tamagochi of Blue Steel, Inc. fame. "We will pay the remittance to your bank in Kyoto, as agreed. Along with... ah... the extra fees formerly agreed upon for providing extra personal protection." Nothing was said about the damages to the room; Subaru tried to offer to pay for them, and found he could not speak.

"Well, if that's everything..." Mr. Tamagochi said, and, loathe to touch the boy but still wanting to make his desires clear, simply opened the door.

Subaru took one step; he felt terrible about this room. It had been completely destroyed. "Um... the damages...."

"Never mind about the damages," Tamagochi said, and now there was some detectable note of strain. "Just. Leave."

Subaru nodded. Heart heavy within him, he went out the door as told, and was not surprised when it both shut and locked behind him. They would wait until he'd left the premises before vacating that room.

What had gone wrong? What COULD have gone wrong? None of his usual spells for dealing with spirits worked, and in the end, he hadn't even been able to reason with her. This poor woman; the amount of suffering she must have had in her own life must have been truly terrible - only under unbelievable amounts of duress could a spirit carry this much anger with it beyond the grave.

And he hadn't been able to speak with her at all. He would have done so, had he been given the choice; then she could have left the world in peace with her neighbors and herself. But as it was....

She was insane. And as such, had to remain sealed away.

Heart heavy for more than just the family he left behind, Subaru walked down to the sidewalk - noting that even the stairs leading to the front door had been cracked - and began the journey home, rubbing his chest absently. 

Behind him, the Tamagochi family breathed a sigh of relief. 

"I'm not sure who was scarier," Mr. Tamagochi muttered, looking around at the wreck which had once been a reading room. "And... does anyone else smell flowers?"

* * *

Subaru made it around the corner before Seishirou found him.

"Subaru-kun?" came a warm, familiar voice behind him, softened with concern and quiet for the sake of the privacy Subaru so valued. Subaru turned; his weariness and sorrow shone on his face.

"Seishirou-san," he said quietly, and Seishirou, leaning against his van which was conveniently parked just there, looked at him critically.

"Subaru-kun; you need to go home. Do you have any more appointments?"

Subaru merely shook his head "no," unable to speak for the tightening in his throat. His tears had begun to fall again.

"Ah, Subaru-kun," Seishirou comforted, pulling Subaru to him for a momentary hug before opening the passenger side door. "Come home with me, Subaru-kun, and tell me whatever could have gone so wrong as to make my Subaru-kun cry."

And on the way home, feeling safer, more removed, more free to speak, Subaru did. 

Subaru told him everything.

* * *

"But if she was crazy to BEGIN with, Subaru, then you can't possibly think this was your fault!" Hokuto sounded affronted, all but taking offense for Subaru's self-imposed guilt.

"I... I think maybe I drove her that way," he insisted quietly, although he didn't sound sure. Surreptitiously, he nudged the heaped plate in front of him a little further back on the kitchen counter.

"Subaru-kun," Seishirou said, leaning on the counter and looking at Subaru with warm, honey-golden eyes. "No one can be really responsible for another going mad. In the end, regardless of the outside forces that come, it's our choice whether or not to stay sane."

"But - " Subaru began. "Mmph," he finished; Hokuto had thrust a chopstick-pinch's worth of sticky rice into his mouth.

Seishirou smiled. "That's my Subaru-kun - always wanting to take the blame for everything, regardless if it's his fault or not." Subaru looked suitably chastised, and Seishirou continued. "Everyone has a will - everyone is in control of his or her faculties to a certain extent. There are cases where people are mentally ill, criminally insane, chemically imbalanced - "

"Although Japan isn't nearly as understanding of those things as places like America are," Hokuto broke in, and Seishirou nodded before continuing. 

" - but most of the time, when someone goes crazy, that's not the real reason." He paused. "The reason, Subaru-kun, is that they want to hide from reality; and they've found the perfect way to do it: simply pretend that reality doesn't exist anymore."

Subaru was still moderately unconvinced. "But she may not have even been crazy before I tried to push her away from all those things she liked. They must have really meant a lot to her."

"Yeah, and if you ask me, that's PROOF she was already crazy," opined Hokuto. "I mean, really. Three shoes? What kind of a cheesy spirit attaches itself to THREE SHOES?"

Seishirou laughed, and the sound was warm and relaxing; Subaru's shoulders untensed. "A valid point, Hokuto-chan, as always. Are you eating that bun?"

Hokuto cradled her plate to her chest. "This is MY bun. You have your own - TWO of your own. Eat those."

Seishirou affected a pitiful expression. "Now, is that any way to treat your future brother-in-law?"

Hokuto waved her chopsticks at him. "You haven't made good on those promises YET, Sei-chan - where's the ring? Where are the flowers? Where are the love letters? Until you do, you have no right calling yourself ANYTHING like my future brother-in-law, isn't that right, Subaru?"

Subaru was not looking at either of them. "I'm going after it tomorrow," he said, and they both stopped smiling and looked at him.

"It?" asked Seishirou.

"The force. The darkness. Whatever it is that's driving all the local spirits crazy. Whatever it is that has all the graveyards in an uproar, the friendly spirits upset, the angry ones creating living nightmares. Whatever it is. I'm going after it tomorrow." And on his own, surprisingly, he took a large bite of his curried sticky rice and chewed it thoroughly.

"Would you like to me accompany you, Subaru-kun?" Seishirou asked lightly, chin supported by one hand as he watched Subaru chew.

Subaru shook his head and slid down from the kitchen stool. "No, that's all right, Seishirou-san," he said. laying his chopsticks down. "I know you have a full day tomorrow - appointments, and maybe some emergencies, even - "

"There is no appointment that's worth more to me than you, Subaru-kun," replied Seishirou, also sliding off his stool. "I will cancel what little I have tomorrow and go with you. After all, how else will you get around? I sincerely doubt public transport will take you where you need to go, Subaru-kun."

"Well," Subaru said, and considered. He had a point.

"Besides, how else will I get time alone with you to convince you of my undying love? I try and I try, but still you scorn me," Seishirou said, and Subaru went beet red.

"I - I - I - that's not - "

"OH ho ho ho ho!" Hokuto laughed, waving her hand. "Molest him if you must, but not at the kitchen counter!"

Seishirou and Hokuto laughed; Subaru stammered, and blushed, and after a little more teasing and touching, managed to get away. 

He thought hard as prepared for bed; it was odd, this strange sense of destiny that he felt, leading him toward some nameless horror. It wasn't something he felt he could talk about or even define - and yet it was there, drawing him ever closer, pulling him until he was finally in reach.

And then what? God only knew; he simply could not shake the feeling that if he failed to find it, it would find him - 

And then it would be far, far too late.

Surrendering his thoughts to blissful quiet, Subaru Sumeragi fell soundly asleep, and dreamed of sakura until morning.


	2. A Day in the Life, Part 2

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 2---**_

Tuesday began, and things grew very confusing.

Subaru conducted his early mornings with the same discipline he applied to everything else. Switching off his alarm, he rose at six a.m. and began his daily routine in the privacy of his room and his polkadot pajamas. He was only halfway through his first kata when when the phone rang. 

This wasn't unusual; people often called at odd hours, hoping to be able to hire him for another "emergency" during the day, and while it was Subaru's natural instinct to jump to the aid of anyone who asked, of late his hands had been tied. Aware of the selfless tendency to sacrifice on Subaru's part even to his own harm, his grandmother had expressly forbidden him to take any job outside of those officially contracted. 

Being who he was, Subaru rarely disobeyed her; but sometimes his desire to help people overpowered his desire to be good. It created a very odd paradigm.

The caller hung up just before triggering the answering machine, waited a few seconds, and then tried again. It was annoying; eyes closed, Subaru continued to center his chi, sighing a little when he realized that his sister did not seem inclined to answer the phone.

Puzzled, Subaru padded to the door and peeked around it. 

"Hokuto-chan?" he called. The phone continued to ring, unabated, and once more stopped just in time to avoid the answering machine. A few seconds passed, and it rang again.

This was weird. Hokuto was always up and around by this time in the morning; if it WAS morning - his alarm had gone off, yes, but something in the light was strange. It was too grey; slanted oddly, just tinted with blue, as if someone had placed a polluted cloud cover in front of all the windows. 

Subaru crept down the long passageway toward the kitchen; as he walked, he noticed that the sounds of his footsteps seemed to die even before they reached the walls. Unease crept down his spine in a quick chill as he reached for the phone.

"Hello?"

_I am coming for you_

"....what?"

The voice on the phone echoed, somehow, inside of Subaru's mind, carrying all the live qualities his own sounds had not, and the room began to spin. Blinking and gripping the table in an attempt to stay upright, Subaru gasped. "Wh... who are you?"

_I am coming for you_

It wasn't his mind playing tricks on him - the room was buckling, twisting as if in an earthquake, and Subaru fell to his knees.

_I am coming for you... **SUMERAGI**_

And suddenly Subaru was falling. The floor opened up beneath him, showing darkness, showing nothing, and Subaru fell through the air freely with nothing to slow him, spinning so quickly he felt ill, eyes shut tightly against the black but knowing that even though he couldn't see it, IT could see HIM - 

And it knew where to find him.

Subaru woke up with a scream.

* * *

Hokuto spilled her tea and Seishirou jumped as they heard the scream from one of the back bedrooms. Eyes widening, they glanced at each other once and then took off for the hall, both springing for Subaru's door without hesitation. Seishirou arrived first and threw open the door.

"Subaru-kun?"

Subaru was sitting up in bed, one fist gripping the cover, white knuckled, his other hand around his throat. He was gasping for air as if suffocating.

"Suba-" Seishirou said, and then Hokuto was on him.

"SUBARU!" She cried, tearing past Seishirou and plowing onto the bed beside Subaru with the kind of concerned panic reserved for loving if slightly overbearing siblings; Seishirou was wise enough to simply get out of the way.

"Subaru! Subaru! Are you all right? What happened?" Disturbed for some reason by his body language, Hokuto pulled Subaru's hand away from his throat; and then, she gasped. 

His pale skin was marked; it was beginning to bruise right before their eyes.

Both Seishirou and Hokuto stared; frightened and vaguely guilty, Subaru stared back.

"Subaru...."

Subaru passed out.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't remember who did this to you, young man?" asked the doctor for the fifth time, bending down to make eye contact with his patient. Subaru sat before him on the examination table, looking slender and ethereal in his hospital gown, and shook his head.

"No, sir. I just woke up and it was like this."

The doctor sighed, nodded, and straightened. Looking stern, he turned to Hokuto and Seishirou.

"As I said before, the marks on his neck - while definitely indicative of strangulation - could not have been made by him. The hands are too large, the fingers too long; whoever did it was very likely an adult male of average or above average size." And he glanced at Seishirou, clearly resting his suspicions there.

Seishirou seemed unaffected by the doctor's unspoken accusation. "But there were no fingerprints?"

"I doubt it," the doctor admitted reluctantly. "Between the three of you, whatever ones were there were would be smudged beyond recognition. However, I still think you should make a police report."

Subaru sighed, sliding off the examination table. "No... I really can't do that, Kurosaki -sensei. There's no one the police could arrest."

The doctor sighed. "Sumeragi-san, I KNOW you think this is some sort of supernatural event and that such things are theoretically your job; but my job is dealing in the real world, and REAL hands made those marks. Someone tried to kill you and failed. I don't know why or how, but if that grip had remained much longer, you would have been seriously injured. I wish you would rethink this."

Subaru shook his head no, picking up his neatly folded clothing and hugging it to his chest. "I'm sorry, Kurosaki -sensei; but no. My mind is made up. This is not for the police to handle."

The doctor nodded one more time and sighed. "Very well, Sumeragi-san. See the nurse at the out-patient desk before you leave." With that, he nodded his head as a farewell, and left.

Hokuto and Seishirou regarded Subaru in silence.

Subaru remained quietly thoughtful for a moment, still holding his clothes to his chest, and then looked up. "The police can't do anything, Hokuto-chan, Seishirou-san. Whatever or whoever did this... it's coming for me. And I have to find a way to deal with it."

Hokuto nodded and stood, smoothing the petticoated skirt of her short, candy-striped dress. Moving closer, she curled one hand against her bosom.

"Be careful," she said quietly, knowing that she could neither help nor hinder his quest, and left him to get dressed; her silence demonstrated her worry more than her words.

Seishirou stayed for a moment longer, looking at Subaru meditatively. "Do you even know where to start looking, Subaru-kun?"

"Actually... yeah, I do," Subaru said, reflexively clutching his clothing more tightly because of Seishirou's closeness. "I was analyzing that dream I had, and I realized that while the layout of the apartment was up to date, all the furniture and decorations belonged to the old one. I think I'm going to go back and see if there might be some sort of energy I can trace in the apartment I had before this one."

"That's a very good idea, Subaru-kun," Seishirou said, and stood. "I think I should probably go with you - you're going to need help."

"Ah... no, no, Seishirou-san, that's not a good idea, I don't need... I don't need...." His voice faded as Seishirou stepped closer, placing his hand on Subaru's shoulder.

Subaru blushed and clutched his clothing still tighter.

Dead serious, Seishirou said, "Should I help you get dressed, Subaru-kun?"

Subaru flushed and sputtered, and after awhile, Seishirou let him go. Positively burning with embarassment, Subaru pulled on his clothing as quickly as he could the moment Seishirou closed the door. Shame Hokuto had already gone; she would have just LOVED that exchange.

Sighing and trying to keep his mind on his work, Subaru donned his hat and left the examination room. 

* * *

"Oh, well, of COURSE it's so good to see you both again and you've definitely grown and oh is your grandmother still well I haven't seen her around in AGES -"

"Oh, she's - 

" - don't you know and you're becoming such a lovely young man how's your sister how's your job how's your life?"

This was the basic thrust of conversation with the landlord Tsunami Agasaki, both now and in the past. It was one of the reasons Subaru and Hokuto had moved after staying there for a few months; Tsunami was nice enough, but clearly unused to dealing with anyone close to being a celebrity, and he'd been over to visit every moment he could spare, asking questions, prying into information that he honestly had no right to know. Subaru, being polite, was kind to the man and did not simply turn him away; instead of that, he'd stayed just long enough that no feelings would be hurt, and then moved to another complex. Hokuto honestly thought the whole thing was very silly, but had to agree that leaving a happy host behind rather than remaining with one that was ticked-off certainly had its plus-side.

Of course, neither of them had ever thought they'd need the man's good favor to come BACK here.

"Nobody's rented this apartment yet, although I have, you know, kinda shown it to a few people since you lived here and all, mostly just folks who are really into the esoteric if you know what I mean, that is folks who would actually know who you ARE not that most people DON'T know who you are but was there any word on you getting on TV lately?"

"I - "

"Oh, that's great, just great, here you go, door's open, take your time, I'll be right back down at the desk - "

"Oh, that's - "

"- I'm sure this is nice secretive stuff you gotta do here, right, eh heh, you do your thing, yes you do, see you later bye!" And he left.

Subaru exhaled slowly; the wake of Tsunami was always a little bit tiring. Centering his mind and focusing his senses, he walked into the room. 

Everything really did seem to be as he'd left it; even the wards he'd laid around the premises, meant for nothing more than basic protection and alarms, were essentially undisturbed. The average person would not have even known they were there, but by just living and working in these rooms would have eventually worn the wards down. 

All of them were intact. No one had lived here since Subaru and his sister had moved away, and while this was mildly disturbing just for the stalking factor, it also would make his job easier. Undisturbed wards meant that he could trace the paths of any unusual energies that had passed through. 

Closing his eyes and trusting his memory, Subaru began to move spiritually around the room. 

Behind his eyelids, in the dark of his mind, shapes and spirits began to stretch out into an endless spiderweb of power, tracing connections with a blue powerful enough to leave afterimages. Subaru followed these with all the skill and tenderness of an expert weaver, all but sliding his fingers along each line with the familiarity of one who had seen and worked with them all of his life. And not unlike a spiderweb, any break in the pattern indicated where things had passed through.

It did not take Subaru long to find the first alteration. Something bright green and poisonous, even more vibrant than his blue, had come from far off in the distance and cut a swath directly across his. Its strings - untidy and shredded in his mind - mingled with some of his own, twisting together like strands of DNA. Here he could plainly see why the mystery being that had visited him had used the imagery from his old apartment; raw tendrils of the dream were left, hanging as if torn from their source, edges ragged and uneven. 

Subaru inspected these; in his mind's eye, he ran them between his fingers, feeling their texture and power even though his projection's hands still wore leather gloves. Their substance was unfamiliar to him; focusing hard, his physical hands moving in the air as if weaving a glorious pattern, he began to trace the green threads back to their source.

And whatever was on the other end became aware of him immediately.

_Sumeragi..._

He had only just enough time; concentrating, relying on a lifetime of experience with the esoteric and surreal, he had just enough moments to create a kekkai as the being on the other end sharply cut off the power. The backlash from that immediately threw the severed threads back at him with all the force of a snapped bungee cord.

Subaru remained calm; even as what was left of the green web hit him in his mind's eye, flying at him from a great distance at such speed that it reached him in the amount of time it took to light a match. When it struck, his kekkai shook, rumbling as if in the throes of an earthquake; but it did not crack. The green threads and cables finally lost momentum and slid to the ground to lie at his feet, fading; and his kekkai remained unbroken. Relieved, he lowered it just in time to hear the hissing, vaguely threatening whispers that came after.

_Sumeragi... Sumeragi..._

And then the voice was gone. There was no way to track it now; confirmation that whatever he was dealing with, his nemesis was more than expert in the field.

Sighing and hoping that he could find a way to identify whatever presence he'd felt before it was too late, Subaru left the apartment to tell Tsunami that he was finished. This hadn't been nearly as helpful as he'd hoped.

* * *

Seishirou was waiting for him out by the van. It had been a bit of a struggle to convince the older man to do so, but he'd finally agreed; much to Subaru's relief. Protecting himself had been hard enough; protecting himself AND Seishirou was something he didn't even want to think about, especially because then he had twice as much chance of making a mistake. If Seishirou were injured because of him, well....

He didn't want to think about it.

"Subaru-kun - what happened up there?" Seishirou asked, eyes wide as he opened the van door for Subaru. "You look disappointed," he observed, warm golden eyes filled with compassion and worry.

Subaru's stress was already slipping away. "I found it - it had been there, just like I thought, but then it got away again." He strapped himself in, and waited for Seishirou to do the same before continuing. "Actually," he said. "I'm a little worried that it managed to trace us to that apartment; perhaps I should send Hokuto-chan back to Kyoto just in case it comes to our current one."

"Now, you know she'd never go," Seishirou chided, turning smoothly into traffic for the drive home.

"I KNOW, but... but I just can't let her stay at risk," Subaru said more softly, heaviness in his heart and eyes and voice.

Seishirou studied him sidelong, driving carefully. "Mou, Subaru-kun," he murmured, and rested a hand on Subauru's leg, just above his knee. "You're so very kind. Always so kind."

Subaru responded to the touch rather than the compliment. He stared at Seishirou's hand as though it were a live snake. "S-S-SEISHIROU-SAN!"

Seishirou chuckled and squeezed twice before letting go. "Now, Subaru-kun, calm down - we're not even home yet. Save your energy so you can tell your sister what happened, hm?"

Subaru hunched a little, cheeks flaming red and eyes wide; touching, he was used to - touching so close to intimate parts of his body, however, he was not, and he couldn't even remember Seishirou being quite so... _bold_ about it before. But perhaps Seishirou was right; he needed to save his energy, and stressing out over a touch from a friend who couldn't even see where his hand was going because he was driving simply made no sense.

Putting it from his mind, Subaru looked back out the window and thought. Surely there must be a solution somewhere.

Perhaps there was; but he was no closer to finding one by the time they reached his home.

* * *

Dinner had been uneventful; more harmless flirting, lots of harmless teasing, much joyful eating. Feeling warm and fed and loved, Subaru finally went to prepare for bed.

Wincing, he unwrapped the bandages around his throat and took a look at what had been done to him. He whistled, low, at the sight; whatever had grabbed him had really done a number on him, no bones about it. He would definitely have to be ready once his path finally crossed with whoever it was; it was unlikely this person would take to failing twice.

Climbing between his satin sheets - something Hokuto had insisted on, although he personally preferred cotton - he pulled the covers up to his chin and stared at the ceiling for a while in thought. Something that hated him so PERSONALLY surely couldn't be the ordinary, average kind of demon; perhaps it was something he'd exorcised in the past? But no - its touch had been completely unfamiliar to him, and he felt he would know a demon if he met it again. All of them were somewhat unique.

When sleep finally carried him away, his last thought was that he was glad Hokuto had persuaded him to sleep with the door open tonight. He could hear Hokuto's breathing in the other room, and could almost make out Seishirou's - the older man was sleeping in the living room, on the sofa.

It wasn't necessary - but Seishirou was doing it anyway. When he thought about how kind the veterinarian was to him, especially in the midst of things like this, Subaru could not quite repress a shiver. What it meant, he wasn't sure; he knew he wasn't ready to think about it. 

At least he also knew he was grateful.

Comforted by this and other sleepy thoughts, Subaru drifted to sleep; and his extra wards held firm. He did not suffer even one bad dream that night.

* * *

And on the other side of town, Tsunami Agasaki, aquaintance of the Sumeragi twins and friend to many, sat in his living room and played with matches.

The giggles coming from him were so foreign they might as well as have been part of a show on TV. 

"Show them," he was muttering to himself, lighting matches, then throwing them away; some went out on their own, but others did not. Two spots on the carpet had already begun to smoke. "Show them all," he said. "Disrespect me, ignore me - after all I do for them? Bah. They'll see. Show them. Show them ALL." And as he began to spill the rubbing alcohol he'd brought with him on all the flammable furniture in the room, somewhere above him a different voice cackled, filled with hate and madness and a joy so terrible it cut.

_Sumeragi..._ it said; and then, the curtains caught fire.

__


	3. A Day in the Life, Part 3

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 3---**_

"Sumeragi Subaru - enter," said the servant, and Subaru bowed with a smile and did.

A full minute passed before his grandmother acknowledged his presence; this was not due to coldness or anything rude, but rather because she cared for propriety as much as Subaru cared for people. It was an interesting conunndrum: as a woman who'd been forced to survive on her own in a country and age that did not appreciate strong women, the former head of the Sumeragi clan had learned a long time ago to hold the job before the people as a simple matter of efficacy. Subaru, however, was sharply aware of other's pain, and so tended to value the people before the job. It was often a source of conflict.

The family servants found the entire cycle very amusing; because Subaru was gentle, it was easy to believe he was weak, and since he felt the pain of conflict very sharply within his own heart, he had a tendency to pick his battles carefully. So yes, he let the women of his life pick his clothing; he let them tell him what to do, what to think, what to say - but the fact remained that in the end, he did what _he_ wanted - regardless of their opinion. Only a few people truly understood this quiet streak of rebellion well enough to expect his behavior, and it was a ceaseless amusement to the servants that his own grandmother did not.

"Welcome home, Subaru-san," Lady Sumeragi finally said with a nod, and Subaru straightened and smiled. 

"Grandmother," he acknowledged, and coming the rest of the way into the room, slid to his knees for tea with a smooth and well-practiced grace.

"What did you wish to see me about, Subaru-san?" she asked, skipping trivialities as she began to prepare the tea with a small whisk.

"I wish to reschedule my appointments for the next week, grandmother," Subaru said respectfully, resting on his heels and glancing at her face for reaction.

She paused, then continued whisking. "Why?"

"Because something large has come up above and beyond my duties, grandmother; I will need proper time to deal with the issue."

Lady Sumeragi was silent for a moment more, finishing mixing the tea and pouring it in the proper bowls. After turning the one she held and handing it to him, she continued.

"Why are you wearing that?"

Subaru was so used to being dressed outrageously by his sister that for a moment, he had no idea what article of clothing his grandmother was talking about; then he realized she was looking at his neck.

"Oh - the scarf," he said, and plucked at it lightly. "I was injured yesterday; I didn't want to worry you." And honestly, he didn't want to have to explain it; it was enough of a pain having to wear gloves all the time, much less a scarf.

"Ah," Lady Sumeragi said, and turning her own bowl around a few times, lifted it to her lips to drink. Following her cue, Subaru did the same, keeping his eyes on her face from over the rim. She was impossible to read; not for the first time, Subaru felt some intimidation in dealing with this woman, in loving her, in being her kin. Ignoring it all, he waited for her to speak. 

She opted not to discuss his scarf anymore. "Subaru-san, you know we are not our own."

This was a lecture he'd heard many times before, and to a certain extent, HAD taken to heart - perhaps more than she'd meant him to. "Yes, grandmother."

"Ours is not to decide what we do or when. We are the Sumeragi; the beloved of the emperor, the premier onmyouji of Japan - responsible for its protection."

"Yes, grandmother." Finished with his tea, Subaru put the bowl down carefully.

"Because of this, knowing this, I cannot see how you find it within yourself to ask me to do such a thing." And her tone, always hard, steeled itself even more with the sharp arrows of disappointment.

Subaru heard it - it was impossible to miss - but he also knew that he could not back down. "Yes, grandmother," he said respectfully, folding his gloved hands. "And I wouldn't ask such a thing unless it was really, really important. This is, grandmother; more important than anything I can think of, and so, I want to reschedule the appointments for this week."

Lady Sumeragi sighed; it was obvious that her lack of actual power here frustrated her - Subaru was the head of the clan, and could do what he wished. But still, he came to her - respecting her station, her opinion, her authority. Such a good boy; for a moment, her heart ached within her.

"...grandmother?" Subaru asked unsurely, seeing the pain flit across her face and not being quite able to identify it.

"Fine," she snapped suddenly, and stood - tea, apparently, was over. "I will have the calls rescheduled; however, Subaru-san, there is one you must still attend: a haunting at the Emperor's palace itself. This one, as you should know, is for this very evening." 

Subaru simply nodded, either not noticing that her tone was accusing him of forgetting, or else simply choosing to ignore it. "Of course, grandmother," he said quietly, remaining on his knees to show respect. "I had no intention of missing that one."

Lady Sumeragi looked at her grandson again; he knelt there, so slender in his black, strangely cut clothes, his eyes so wide, in innocent, emerald beauty. For a moment her recurring dreams of the boy being drowned in sakura shook her again; then, being stronger than her dreams, she shook the feeling off and looked at him sternly.

"Zatsu will see to it that you know of all your new appointments," she said by way of meeting close; and then, she opened her arms. "Come here, Subaru-san."

Subaru smiled, finally released from ceremony, and leaped from the floor to hug her. It was brief; a momentary sharing of love, and never enough for him, but it would have to do. They both knew that Lady Sumeragi only granted that much affection because he valued it so.

"Be careful, Subaru-san," she said more quietly, resting one hand on his shoulder and not quite touching the scarf. "My heart fears for you." 

Subaru knew; he'd been told of her dreams. And just as before, he had absolutely nothing to tell her.

Finally, she nodded; head slightly bowed, she turned and swept from the room, kimono as glorious as the dawn, and slid the paper door shut behind her. Subaru stood where he was for a moment, lingering in the afterwarmth of her hug. She was so precious to him; all of them were, which was why he was doing this. He could not shake the feeling, no matter what he did, that the attack on him had only been the tip of the iceberg.

Only the beginning; with much worse to come.

Sighing once and mentally prepping himself to go back to work, Subaru turned and left his ancestral family home. 

* * *

Visits to the emperor were always a little interesting. Asashi Riroi Buraun Banshou was a young ruler, unfortunate enough to have been born in an age when patriotism was diminished and his own inherited position was less than powerful. In a last, vain attempt to prove that Japan was keeping up with modern times, his father had stuck the name of a rhythm and blues artist he particularly liked into Asashi's name; and since he had died not two months after the boy's birth, he had never really explained his decision to the press. Now of age and the current emperor, Asashi Riroi Buraun Banshou was ridiculed for his name behind his back, and he seemed to make up for it with more and more flamboyant behavior. 

He was homosexual; everyone knew this, and while common, published materials seemed to indicate this was common in Japan, the opposite was true. Political activists claimed that his behavior would cost him an heir, which meant his position would be up for grabs - and while this was potentially true, in effect, it was almost a joke.

No one wanted the position of Emperor. Ever since World War II, the title had held little real power; it did, however, give Asashi - Riroi behind his back - license to behave like an idiot.

One of his favorite ways to do this concerned the young head of the Sumeragi clan.

Riroi wanted Subaru; Subaru knew it, and for him to have realized such a fact in his perpetually innocent state gave testament to how overboard Riroi was. It was true that the age of consent in Japan was thirteen, and so Subaru was legally available; however, it was also true that he had no real interest in anyone that he knew of (none conscious, anyway) and honestly, the idea of a serious relationship scared him almost silly.

Not to mention that it was the EMPEROR; one did not think of such things as sex in connection with _him_. 

Subaru's grandmother probably knew; but Subaru was clearly strong enough to stand on his own, and while Riroi was an almost theatrical fop, he certainly had no interest in sordid things like rape. Between this and the careful, special relationship the office of emperor had with the Sumeragi clan, it was deemed advisable for Subaru to simply continue working with Riroi and pretend he knew nothing.

There were times, however, that Subaru wished he really COULD know nothing; his blushing was something he couldn't control, and Riroi clearly found it endearing. At least this current meeting was taking place at night; the dim light provided by the elevated torches in Riroi's private garden fortunately did not threaten revelation. 

"Helloooo, Subaru-san," greeted Riroi, and Subaru bowed as was only proper.

"Tenno-sama," Subaru said, remaining bent at the waist until the emperor should acknowledge him. Which the emperor wasn't; after a minute or so had passed, Subaru glanced up again to find Riroi's gaze solidly on him.

Riroi seemed to be busy imagining the possibilities Subaru's position presented; blushing - and doubly glad for the dim light provided by the torch-lamps in the garden - Subaru willed himself to stay quiet until Riroi got to the point.

After a while, he finally did. "Come here, Subaru-san - sit by me," Riroi said, patting the chair beside him with long, lacquered, tapered fingernails that would make Jackie Joyner Kersee jealous. Nodding his acquiescence, Subaru walked to the table and sat in the chair across from Riroi, rather than beside him. He schooled his expression to remain still - since none of this was out of the ordinary, after all.

Riroi sighed. "You're SO stubborn sometimes," he said, fanning himself, and smiled. "Tea?"

"What is the nature of the disturbance, Tenno-sama?"

"Oh, that," said the emperor clearly disappointed. His fingers fluttered over the teacups like butterflies. "There's a ghost or some such nonsense upstairs, in the third floor - you know, I NEVER go up there. It's such a mess - moreso now, even," he added, and chortled merrily at his own joke.

Subaru remained all business. "And have you had any clues as to the nature of this disturbance?"

Riroi looked slightly put out; making a distasteful face as though discussing such vulgarities was far beneath him, he started to answer when a crash from the main palace made them both jump.

"What was that?" Subaru asked.

"Oh dear, there it goes again," Asashi Riroi Buraun Banshou said, as if it were not his own property being damaged, and Subaru looked at him with wide eyes.

"Again?" he asked. 

"Yes, yes," Riroi said. "It's been wrecking the third floor, I told you - good thing nobody lives up there, is it not? Oh, hoo hoo hoo hmm hmm."

Subaru sighed; a poltergeist call? Oi, this could take all night.

"With your permission, Tenno-sama," Subaru began, and Riroi perked up.

"Yes?" the emperor asked.

"I would like to go and address this problem right away. If it is an angry spirit, it could take a while to remove - and I don't want to do more damage to your property than it already has," he explained, and Riroi drooped again.

"Oh," he said, and sighed. "Well - if you must. But I suppose AFTERWARDS you'll stay for some tea?" he amended, a gleam in his eyes that Subaru found decidedly unhealthy, torchlight or no torchlight. 

"If I have the time, Tenno-sama," Subaru said, and Riroi frowned.

"Time? Not enough time for your _emperor_?" he demanded, pretty fists clenching on the table. Subaru did not answer, but merely looked at him, his will and strength of duty in his eyes. After a moment, Riroi looked away.

"Very well, I suppose you must do what you must do," he bemoaned, drawing his long legs back so he could stand. "This way, Subaru-san." Gliding in his silvery brocade robes, Asashi folded his hands inside his sleeves and headed back into the palace. Subaru silently followed him.

The halls were wood paneled, lined with glorious paintings, tapestries, and ancient armor from even before the time of the Samurai; they were also absolutely deserted. They met no one in the hallway; no servants, no visitors, no family. It was almost as if the entire palace had been emptied, and Subaru began to wonder how much more there was to this "ghost" than the emperor had mentioned. A moment later, he found out.

Brow knit, Subaru paused and looked past the emperor to the third floor, where he could hear huge, chaotic crashes. "Is that it?" he asked, knowing it was an obvious question but a little worried as to just what this entailed; it sounded as though the creature were throwing entire bedroom sets around.

"Yes, that's it," said the emperor, sounding bored. "Come along, would you?" And he continued up the stairway. 

Subaru had already taken out three of his ofuda, fanning them between his fingers like cards in a magic trick. "Perhaps you'd better stay back, Tenno-sama," he said. "I don't want to risk you getting hurt."

Looking delighted at Subaru's concern, Riroi started to reply, but then came a particularly large crash followed by something more dangerous. One of the doors above the third floor balcony slammed open, and a large, battered bureau came flying toward them as if propelled from a catapult.

"GET DOWN!" Subaru shouted, and pounced on his emperor literally just in time to avoid catastrophe. The bureau flew right over their heads, narrowly missing them as it smashed into the stairs below and tumbled to the main floor, leaving a trail of kindling behind.

"I think you should go stay with your security, sir," Subaru said gravely, relieved to hear the approaching guards shouting as they came; Riroi had to get out of here.

"Mmmm.... if you're... perfectly SURE, Subaru-san," purred Riroi, who was apparently more intersted in the weight of the Sumeragi on top of him than his own life. Clearly in his own little world, he moved suggestively underneath Subaru.

Subaru choked; he squeaked. He leapt off his emperor with all the speed of a mad adder, and immediately called to the security guards.

"Ah... he's up here!" Subaru shouted, his voice cracking, and then ran past Riroi as quickly as he could, willing himself not to look at the sprawled man in silk on the stairs. Onmyoujitsu required concentration, and this was most certainly not conducive to any such thing; hoping Riroi wouldn't take his sudden flight personally, Subaru focused his mind and and ran to face the enemy.

* * *

The third floor no longer looked as though it belonged in the palace of royalty. Every item that had hung on the walls had been ripped off and torn, pieces broken and scattered. Furniture of every conceivable kind had been dragged from the bedrooms, smashed, turning the hallway into an obstacle course. 

Subaru sneaked down the hall; the spiritual energy of this place was absolutely overwhelming, and he couldn't successfully sense the location of the being or beings responsible for the mess. Leery of being hit with more furniture, Subaru moved carefully.

After passing a few more doors, he became aware of a strange, strange sound. It was only because he'd dealt so often with the dead that he knew it for what it was: the wailing of an angry, heart-broken soul. The sound suddenly increased in volume, and a nightstand, minus its drawers, suddenly came flying through the door directly in front of him and hit the floor, smashing itself gradually to pieces even as it ricocheted past and over the balcony. 

Well. At least now he knew where it was. Holding his ofuda up before him like a gun at the ready, Subaru slid to the doorway and carefully peeked around. 

The ghost sat right beyond the door. Old, young, it was impossible to tell; hair and skin equally colorless, the being sat clothed in what looked like antiquated soldier's uniform, bulky with stuffed armor. The ghost was rocking back and forth slowly, sitting with his/her legs slightly curled in front, and every once in a while wailing for no apparent reason. As Subaru watched, the spirit raised one hand, lifted the one remaining hung portrait in the room with supernatural power, and flung it out the door with a slightly higher pitch to the constant wailing.

Subaru pulled back as the gilded frame went flying past, chipping more paint from the doorway; then he stepped forward.

"Excuse me," he said, and the ghost looked up as if simultaneously caught and guilty. 

"Who are you?" it screeched, its voice as androgynous as its appearance.

Subaru stood very still. "Sumeragi Subaru - who are you?"

The ghost looked at him for a long moment; startlement passed over her face, then blankness, and when it spoke, its sounded absurdly calm. "I am Yamata Miko. I do not belong in this world."

It had the sound of something rehearsed, an official statement to be made upon questioning; Subaru didn't buy it. "Are you?" he asked, and the ghost's outline seemed to waver.

"IIIII already SAID WHAT I SAID!" she - Subaru was almost sure it was a she - screamed, and without warning, flung her arms as if tossing something huge at Subaru - and from behind her, the entire cherrywood tea-table rose from the ground and flew over her head.

Subaru dodged it, ducking back behind the doorway as it somehow avoided catching on the doorframe and flew past him; then he stepped back into view.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I can tell you're in great pain - but if you don't stop doing that, I'm going to have to make you leave. These aren't your things you're destroying."

And the ghost - Yamata, if that was her name - began to laugh. She threw back her head and as she did, the entire building around them seemed to... _warp_. 

The floor, the walls, everything buckled slightly - as if a giant's hands were on the outside trying to twist the mansion in two, and Subaru, slightly dizzy, clung to the doorframe.

"Stop that! STOP THAT!" he called over the horrible sounds that were now coming from the building, and only hoped that she could hear him. "STOP that right now! Please! DON'T MAKE ME HURT YOU!"

And just as suddenly as she'd started, she stopped. The palace took a moment longer to settle, weeping dust from the ceiling as it resumed a more natural shape. Subaru was breathing hard, and trembling just a little; and as for the ghost - she smiled. 

"You do not like my playing, Sumeragi Subaru?" she asked calmly, and Subaru took a step closer.

"That isn't what you were going to say," he said in almost forgiving tones, and her smile faded. Silent, they eyed one another.

"What right do you have to say you won't hurt me, Sumeragi Subaru?" she finally demanded, speaking in a low, dangerous voice that Subaru would have sworn was male under any other circumstance. "You don't want to avoid that - you WANT to hurt me. Everyone does."

"Why would I want to hurt you?" Subaru asked, neither accusing nor condescending, and took another step forward.

The ghost looked puzzled. "Everyone does," she repeated, sounding more female, and tilted her head.

"Everyone? That's kind of inclusive," Subaru said, and took the final step to bring him into the room. Sitting in front of her, he gently rested his hands on his legs, showing no ofuda, no weapon, no agressiveness of any kind. "I don't think everyone does - I don't. Why would everyone? Surely it can't be that bad, Yamata-san." 

The ghost looked at him oddly, pulling back just a little. "Who are you?" she asked again, and Subaru smiled.

"I'm sorry - but I'm a friend of the person whose home you're wrecking," he admitted, ducking his head and coloring slightly. "That's why I'm asking you to stop what you're doing - but that doesn't mean I want to hurt you," he explained. 

The ghost had begun to look upset. "But... but why not?" she asked.

"Why would I?" Subaru asked, and Yamata, her form beginning to waver, put her hands over her face and wailed.

Subaru's expression flew past compassion and into empathy; hands up as if in supplication, he tried desperately to communicate with her. "No - no please, don't cry. Tell me what's wrong - it could be something I can fix..."

In response she threw her head back and wailed again, once more effecting the strange bending of three dimensions, causing the walls to creak and the ceilings to shed dust. Subaru wobbled and fell to his side.

"Why did it have to be you?" she accused, sobbing, and leveled one finger at him. "Why someone like YOU?"

Subaru could barely hear her over the screaming of the wood and crashing around him. "Wh... what? Me? What...?"

She choked, and suddenly rose into the air, hair streaming around her and her entire being suddenly feral red instead of glowing white. "WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE YOU... **_SUMERAGI_**!"

And suddenly, Subaru understood; he had only enough time to raise one slim ofuda before she brought the room crashing down around him.

__


	4. A Day in the Life, Part 4

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 4---**_

Subaru was floating in the dark. 

Nothing was around him, and in that nothing was womb-like comfort and silence. Warmth, serenity, and perfection couched him in safety and peace, and the knowledge that people loved him and that everything was all right cradled him in its bosom; Subaru never wanted to leave. 

Some distant part of his mind knew that he was unconscious and unable to wake up; it was probably a coma or something very like it, but the problem was, he couldn't bring himself to care. Unconnected images moved without meaning through his thoughts; the woman's ghost; the emperor's palace; even his grandmother's face, Seishirou's hands, Hokuto's eyes - all these things became nothing but a vaguely familiar and strangely comforting slideshow for Subaru's subconscious, to which he attached no significance.

And suddenly, there was a jolt. Light, startling and almost painful, shot through the optic nerves Subaru's mind had conjured; crying out, he covered his face, and suddenly had a strange and disturbing vision.

He was not warm and safe, as he'd felt; he was in a white, stark box, one that seemed to be moving, and there were people crowding all around him and an IV of some sort swinging above his head and things poking at his arms and something covering his face and Seishirou - 

...Seishirou was there. Seishirou, looking down at him, not as close as the others but still _there_, his eyes in shadow and his smile gone. There was something about his face that frightened Subaru, actually, and in his condition, he couldn't relate whatever it was that was frightening him with what he knew of Seishirou. And then just as suddenly as it had come, his vision was gone again, and he was back in the forgetful black of sleep.

* * *

When Subaru awoke, it was early afternoon. The sun slanting in through the prettily-curtained hospital windows only just warmed the color of the walls to his right, by accident or good planning not hitting his bed with danger of waking him. He blinked for a moment, feeling comfortable but strangely confined, then tried to sit up.

His gasp was sharp; his pain was sharper. Clutching his left shoulder and clenching his jaw in agony, Subaru lay back on the pillows more quickly than he'd intended and writhed, wondering if there were an actual blade stuck in his shoulder or if it only felt that way. The pain was all-encompassing, but it had at least one benefit; it cleared his mind, and after one fuzzy, burning moment, he remembered everything.

He recalled the ghost.

He recalled the building.

He recalled the small, life-saving kekkai he'd been able to cast at the last possible moment, and the sweating-hurting-numbing concentration it had taken to keep the thing up - such intensity, in fact, that it had made his vision swim. He remembered the building collapsing around him, being unable to do anything but try to keep that power from crushing him completely, and then he remembered...

...he remembered...

...something that wouldn't quite come clear. Something - someone - black, white, cloth, touch, warm - lips?

Lips? On his _hands?_ Oh, now that made no sense; why in the world would some character in black and white be kissing his hands?

Having no place to put that thought, Subaru abandoned it for the moment in favor of reaching - carefully - for the nurse-call; the pain was only growing, and he was beginning to be afraid he'd re-torn something. And not a moment too soon; he managed to grasp and depress the call button only once, and then the combination of pain and trauma from his ordeal overcame him completely. Subaru collapsed, gently curved over the metal bars on the side of his bed.

* * *

"Subaruuuuuu," Hokuto wailed, prostrated over his legs and clutching his extra pillow to her face. "I was so SCARED!" 

Her sentiment seemed to be the general reaction to the chaos that had erupted following the ghost's attack. In the three days Subaru had been hospitalized, there had been a sudden resurgence in the belief of the occult in Japan unparalled to anything in modern times. Onmyoujitsu of course was popular, but on the whole most people opted for more esoteric breeds: Kaballah, Hinduism, random Native American practices; for the Sumeragi, it was promising to be more than a headache because his family was required to keep tabs on all such would-be magic users.

And why, exactly, had this happened? Simple: the ghost had apparently decided to bring the mansion down around Subaru's head by twisting it into something similar to an Escher painting, then imploding it slowly as if it had been built around a black hole. This had not been a quick process, and the news media had had plenty of time to record it: the entire palace, wings already reduced to kindling wood, twisting and contorting like images in a carnaval mirror. Everyone had been sure that anyone left in there was no longer alive; Hokuto had seen this, and been terrified that Subaru was dead. And Subaru nearly was, when he was brought out of there - somehow, miraculously, by Seishirou. The veterinarian had simply come walking around the side, toward the ambulences, carrying an unconscious and much-battered Subaru in his arms.

"He'd managed to crawl to safety," Seishirou explained to the medical personnel, slightly panicky, SO concerned over his Subaru-kun but more than willing to let them handle Subaru's care. It truly was a miracle; but the thing that was odd was that the house stopped its odd calisthenics just minutes after Seishirou had brought Subaru out.

Of course, the theory immediately went forth that Subaru had stopped it.

Wounded and weary, he'd somehow defeated the demon and crawled to safety, and for the next several days, his face and general biographical facts were spread across various television stations and newspapers; he never QUITE made the front page, but he was close. It probably gave those folks who'd requested his autograph quite a thrill - only, he wasn't awake to see it.

It was three days before Subaru truly woke up. He'd regained a sort of faux consciousness once or twice, but never said anything useful and didn't remember it afterwards; hence, they weren't counted. When those three days had passed and the torn ligaments in Subaru's arm had healed enough to put him in a sling instead of a brace, he finally swam back to the world of the living.

"What happened?" he'd croaked groggily at the nurse fixing his draperies, and of course his sister had immediately been called. 

"I thought you were dead," she finished in a pathetic little voice, glancing up at him through lashes made even thicker with tears.

"I'm sorry," Subaru said, even though this scare really wasn't his fault at all, and she seemed to be satisfied.

"You're not allowed to do it again," she said, still clinging, and Subaru looked properly chastened. 

"Now now, Hokuto-chan," Seishirou chided lightly, leaning forward and looking at them as though he thought they were cute enough to eat. "I think our Subaru-kun did an amazing job, considering what he was up against - really! It's simply amazing what he can do when he puts his mind to it." And he smiled, to which Hokuto smiled weakly in return; but Subaru, for his part, had nothing to say at all. 

Perhaps he'd taken care of the ghost, and perhaps not; but the fact was, he didn't recall doing a blessed thing. The spirit might still be out there.

Hokuto nuzzled a little, still frightened enough three days after the event that Subaru could feel a fine, delicate tremor dancing under her skin. "I thought I lost you," she confessed to the pillow case, fingering the edge of the hospital blanket thoughtfully.

"Yeah," Subaru confessed quietly, sighing as he spoke, and glanced at Seishirou just... to see what he was doing.

Seishirou's attitude had not changed; smiling, he watched them both, somehow combining the air of concerned lover and concerned older brother into one. Subaru blushed and looked away.

Hokuto had finally found something else to talk about. "Who designs these things, anyway? Prisoners? They're TERRIBLE!" she squealed, plucking at the sleeve of his faded hospital gown, and Subaru blushed even more.

"I... I... I...." he managed, and Seishirou chimed in.

"Yes, Subaru-kun looks so terribly vulnerable in it - especially since they left on your black gloves! That's not protocol at all - I wonder why they did that?"

Somehow, Subaru managed to blush even more deeply, but did not offer an explanation; it was enough to know he'd have to try to apologize to whomever had dealt with dressing him - the gloves were enchanted to give quite a shock to anyone other than himself who might try to remove them. 

Flopping back onto his knees with the pillow clutched to her chest, Hokuto sighed. "And the food is awful," she confided, swinging her heels above her back with the lazy, pendulous grace of a vacationing swimmer. 

Subaru looked at them, both giving up their time and day to be there, both seemingly cheerful and without complaint even though sitting in a hospital was surely no great joy; and for just a moment, he remembered the feeling he'd had when he was unconscious. 

The feeling of being loved. 

Suddenly it was all right. Subaru smiled, light in his eyes and joy in his soul, and without reserve, he resigned the mystery evil that had been plaguing him to the back burner just for now - just for a little while. At this moment, he had far more important things to be doing.

* * *

Later that evening, Subaru was finally released from the hospital; however, in spite of his doctor's suggestion, he had not gone home. Instead, telling no one, he had gone back to the emperor's Palace.

Riroi was all right - that much Subaru knew, having called around to check, but it was impossible to get hold of him; apparently, Riroi's security had decided this was some sort of wild attempt on the emperor's life, and had spirited him away somewhere. Subaru couldn't say this made him unhappy; the prospect of being on a case for the emperor without any potential groping was really a cheerful thought.

Moving slowly, Subaru made his way through the wreckage of the building, being careful because he wasn't sure if the floor could entirely be trusted. Cautious, he sent his shikigami in before him, using its extra perception to try to judge whether or not it was safe. Several times he had to change direction, and once he even had to go back almost to the beginning and start over again; but eventually it paid off. He reached the stairs that led to the remains of the room in which he'd fought the spirit - but even before he did, he knew what he would find. The evidence was all around him.

The rogue spirit had been shredded. 

Not simply bound away, not banished to some other plane or weakened so that she would be come harmless; torn literally into ectoplasmic pieces, and unable, therefore, to ever be reincarnated, saved, sent to another world, or in fact, to do anything ever again. The soul of Yamata Miko had been utterly destroyed; the remains of her essence were splattered all over the building. He didn't even remember doing it. 

Subaru was horrified; nauseated. The evidence of the carnage was everywhere, and seeing what he'd done to her finally sickened him so much that he stumbled to the side of the building and vomited. It didn't MATTER that she'd been a threat - NO one had the right to do something this terrible to another person, alive or dead; and Subaru felt so ill at discovering this ability within himself that for a long time he simply stayed where he was, too disgusted to cry, too mortified to go home. Just considering that even working such a spell required the use of strong and terrible dark magic was enough to make him reconsider seriously what he was doing with his life; he felt like a murderer.

It was dark by the time he made it home. He knew Hokuto would be furious with him for neither calling her nor coming back right away, but he also knew he wouldn't be able to lie to her; it wasn't even a question. And in a way, he hoped that Seishirou would not be there, either; he usually was in the evening, but Subaru felt so ashamed of himself right now that he couldn't handle facing Seishirou's affection. Seishirou's... adoration, or... friendship, or WHATEVER it was. He couldn't deal with it; not without sobbing, not tonight.

Sneaking in as quietly as possible, Subaru literally tiptoed to his bedroom without incident and shut the door. Hokuto, apparently, was not in - perhaps she'd gone to visit him at the hospital, or perhaps she'd simply gone out on a date, but whatever the reason, she wasn't here; and he was grateful. Slipping into his bed with no more of a change than taking off his hat, he hugged his pillow and ached, ached so much for this dead woman he'd barely known and whom he'd apparently robbed of existence. It took hours; but finally, he fell asleep.

Perhaps his long-term fears had been right; perhaps he was not the best person to fill the role of Sumeragi. But whether he was Sumeragi material or not, the question of his career would have to be put off for now because he had something else to do. Subaru had an appointment: 

Whatever had driven Yamato Miko mad was not going to hurt anybody else ever again.

* * *

And outside of Tokyo, perched in the dark and seeing into men's hearts, a demon laughed and set the next step of its plan into motion.

__


	5. A Day in the Life, annex 1

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, annex 1---**_

Hokuto screamed. The sound was muffled, softened as she clenched her fists together in front of her mouth, but still - it was very clearly a scream, and would have certainly garnered more attention if there hadn't been so much noise. 

There were sirens, of course; lights, trucks, cameras, action. Shouts, footsteps, explosions - although these were from the building itself - and the horrible, implacable sounds of wood snapping as the mansion continued to cave in. Honestly, none of the "experts" who had arrived had any idea how the building was doing what it was doing, nor were they sure when it would stop; one thing, however, they did know: if anyone was still inside that building, they were most certainly dead. 

It was ironic, in a way; Hokuto had just happened to be passing by when the destruction started, and had seen the mansion pulling itself apart even before the police arrived. Disturbed by the violence of this particular situation, she'd tried to call home, only to discover that Subaru was not there - and then grew even more concerned when she found out where he was. The fleeing servants informed her who was in the building, in the center of this place, which looked now as though it had been posessed by a black hole. Ending her date abruptly, she waited; and after half an hour passed and Subaru had not reappeared, she began to feel the first edges of panic. 

Everyone was trying to deal with the survivors who had crawled, burned, and beaten their way out; no one in their right mind would go in AFTER anybody, and Hokuto herself had been kept from interfering when she had tried. So finally, trapped, helpless, she'd simply done the only thing left to her to do: she cried.

People ran around her as she huddled on the ground; men, women, cameras, equipment, medical technicians, news reporters, everybody - all ignored her to a one. Time passed, another half hour, and another, and the building crushed itself even more, reducing both wings to kindling and twisting the center like an Escher painting. Still, Subaru did not emerge; Hokuto was beginning to wonder if she should go in after him just so she could join him when Seishirou finally arrived.

Arms - warm, strong, trusted - slid around her shoulders, tightly, protectively, and perhaps possessively, but who cared? "Hokuto-chan..." Seishirou said, his voice low and his gaze fixed on the tortured building.

"He's inside," Hokuto managed, her voice no more than a squeak. "They can't stop it and he's inside. Sei-chan... my brother. He's inside."

Why did she tell him this? Who knew? Surely he couldn't DO anything; he was a veterinarian, regardless of whatever his family might or might not have been "into," and it would take more than that to interrupt this building's suicide and save its most important occupant. It would take soldiers, doctors, a whole damned army of magic makers - but still, she told him.

Telling him was the right thing to do; somehow, she knew that. 

Seishirou nodded once and put his jacket around her shoulders. "Stay here," he told her in gentle but firm tones, and she turned to ask him what he was going to do - 

Only he was gone.

Hokuto shuddered once, from the tip of her toes to the top of her head, and tugged Seishirou's jacket further around her. This was no time for reason; this was a time for blind faith - faith in one hope, one prayer, one man.

Sakurazuka Seishirou.

* * *

Seishirou walked through the wreckage, and as he did it parted for him. Power - dark, electric, and crackling - snapped in the air around him, and everything he passed stopped twisting long enough for him to walk by unharmed. Of course, it continued bending after he'd passed; but that was no longer his problem.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he sing-songed quietly, hypnotically, knowing very well where the cause of trouble was but wanting to taunt it anyway. Having some fun, Seishirou allowed his energy like purple lighting to split the air around him, filling the space with ozone and outlining the shadow of the shikigami on his shoulder. But regardless of what he did, the being up above seemed willing to neither run nor hide, even though he was touting death before him like a sweet-smelling miasma; this was pleasing. He wanted to punish it. 

Subaru-kun's energy seemed to grow more and more faint as he walked, even though he was surely but slowly getting closer; simply put, that meant Subaru was fading - and given the current situation, that similarly meant he was going to be killed.

Not acceptable. 

Seishirou had finally reached the room that held Subaru. There was a shield around the outside of it, a living barrier of malignant power meant to keep trespassers away. And with almost anyone else, it would have.

Without another thought, Seishirou shattered it. He did this neither lightly nor gently, definitely not taking into consideration what this abrupt break of power would do to the mind of the ghost inside. The spirit whose power he'd broken screamed, and Seishirou smiled lightly as he stepped through the door. 

The room was in shambles; Subaru lay in the center, his flickering half-circle barrier dissolving around him even as Seishirou arrived; clearly, the boy was unconscious. Ignoring the screeching being in the corner, Seishirou walked over and scooped Subaru into his arms, taking the time to put him out of harm's way before returning to face his newest victim.

The ghost was still screaming. Hands over her face, arched backwards to the point that her head was almost touching her hips, she jerked in mindless agony as the building she'd damaged twisted as if it empathized. Not feeling terribly patient, Seishirou decided to slam her repeatedly into the ground until she stopped. 

It didn't take very long; the power he used to grip and fling her was tight enough to rob her of whatever metaphysical breath she had anyway, so after only a few moment she stopped screaming and turned her bleary attention toward him. 

As she did, something funny happened. Seishirou caught a glimpse of some foreign power; some strange, esoteric influence that he couldn't identify and which immediately fled from his query, leaving this ghost less powerful than she had been and apparently more able to communicate. He wasn't sure quite what it was; it was gone before he could even try to follow it. 

Oh, well. 

Calm and looking amused, Seishirou lit a cigarette.

She had finally grown still; gasping raggedly and bleeding parts of her essence that were never meant to bleed, she fixed her battered visage on him and finally spoke aloud. "Who the hell are you?" she croaked. 

"No one you will ever meet again," Seishirou said lightly, and smoked a little before speaking again. "Why did you attack Subaru-kun?" 

She looked at him; her expression was already dead, weary, failed. "I had to," she said, and Seishirou shook his head.

"You should have found another hobby, Obake-chan," he informed her serenely, and without another word, raised one hand and blew the ashes from his cigarette at her.

Yamato saw them coming; she saw them swirl unnaturally, coalescing into a strange, black ofuda before swooping in and sticking to the center of her forehead. And then, she began to scream.

She screamed for a very long time; even after he basic form had disapeared and was slithering down the walls like melted butter, she screamed. Even after her outline dissolved, deforming like super-heated plastic, still, she screamed. Her eyes hollowed out and her mouth drew itself down into a caricature of modern art, and shortly there was nothing left to indicate who she had ever been in life.

Seishirou watched. The human soul was terribly resiliant, he thought, and as he watched was mildly surprised to find how very much her suffering pleased him. He liked to kill, it was true, but like everything else in his life, it was nothing more than a passing sensation of pleasure. On a purely objective level, Seishirou did not care about this spirit more than he had about anything else that had ever threatened to take Subaru's death from him. However....

Her pain was pleasing to him; as was the anger he felt for her because of what she'd done. 

This was slightly disturbing; not sure why it was bothering him, Seishirou decided he was no longer going to think about it. Turning his back on the almost completely deformed ghost of Yamato Miko, he walked outside, taking Subaru with him and pausing only just beyond the building so he could continue to hear her screams. He had Subaru in his arms, of course, while he waited for her to die; there was plenty of entertainment to go with the ambience. 

She continued to scream for some minutes more; the house twisted, a few fires broke out, and the media recorded the entire thing on the front lawn and gave wild speculations. And in the back, out of the public eye and wallowing in the power of her dying pain, Seishirou enjoyed his unconscious Subaru and tasted the marks of prey through leather gloves. 

Finally, it was over. The building still shook and twisted, molecules trying desperately to resume their normal shape in the aftermath of it all; but the ghost inside was long destroyed - he'd felt her explode at the last, spattering the room like paint. Nuzzling Subaru's hair, Seishirou slid his hands away from the boy's throat. "I suppose I'd better return you now," he murmured, cradling Subaru to his chest, and walked around the outside of the building.

Seishirou had done a very thorough examination. Subaru's shoulder wasn't hanging right; there was possibly a cracked rib or two and a minor concussion, but the rest of the damage was merely due to energy drain and would right itself after a few days of rest. Well, this wasn't too much of a problem; Seishirou could handle a day or two with no Subaru to bother, and there were certainly plenty of other things to do. Of course, the days still counted; a bet was a bet, after all, and appointments couldn't simply be put off just because one of the participants was unconscious.

Schooling his smile into a frown of concern, Seishirou walked around the building and headed toward the ambulences, determined to see his Subaru-kun nursed back to health; Hokuto was sure to be happy.


	6. A Day in the Life, Part 5

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 5---**_

When Subaru opened his eyes the next morning, he spent exactly thirty six minutes dealing with his concerned sister and personal hygiene - although not in that order - and then went straight to work.

For Subaru today, that meant hoofing it from place to place in Tokyo, following leads and asking questions of all the other onmyouji he knew of within reasonable distance of his apartment, hearing what they had to say and then trying to follow up. It was long, hard work, and by mid-afternoon he was so tired that he honestly wanted to just throw in the towel and go home. But he was driven; not allowing himself to slack for even a moment (and perhaps in penance for his unusual bout of laziness at the hospital the day previous), Subaru continued to look, searching single-mindedly for the source of evil that had clearly been festering for too long.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hokuto stayed home. It was true that she'd been concerned about Subaru that morning, but her worry had held an edge - a light, unaccustomed accusation in her mode and method that was not at all her normal style, and it perhaps only went to show how terribly preoccupied Subaru was that he failed to notice.

Just as well, she thought as he FINALLY left the building to go on another of his special little journeys. She wanted some time alone.

For a couple of days now, Hokuto had felt considerably more irritable than usual; if anything, she'd felt downright cross. Little things were bothering her now that never had before, even when she'd deigned to give them thought: her position versus her brother's, her status in their grandmother's eyes as opposed to his - stupid little things that were simply facts of reality and had been that way all her life. And more importantly, were not going to change.

"No, I don't suppose they ARE going to change," she muttered into her coffee some fifteen minutes after he'd left, swinging her feet high above the floor as she perched on the bar stool against the counter. "Why should they? He's mister special, after all. Mister precious. Mister POWERFUL - although he gets himself banged UP all the time because he's so... he' s so..."

For a moment Hokuto struggled with the strange annoyance that had come over her system, wrestling with it because she honestly knew it was neither right nor wise; but it was, however, overwhelming, and in the end, it won.

"STUPID!" she shrieked suddenly, panting with the effort of failed resistance and sloshing her coffee. "He's... gods, I'd NEVER be that dumb about it! He just... LETS things hurt him - it doesn't MATTER if they deserve it or not, oh no, he can't even THINK about our feelings if he gets himself in trouble and nearly dies, no he's more concerned about some stupid crying GHOST who's already DEAD!"

And in spite of the fact that she'd known this all her life - in spite of the fact that she treasured Subaru, knew how special and unique and fragile he was - at that moment, for the first time, she was angry with him. She did not hate him; that was impossible - but she was angry with him for the simple crime of being himself, and unable to fight this sudden storm of fury that had come on her, Hokuto dropped her head onto her forearms and wept, feeling trapped, feeling undervalued - 

And somehow, blaming that on Subaru, too.

She didn't do anything else for the next five hours.

* * *

Seishirou was a very busy man, it was true - two jobs, the Bet, and a myriad of other things - but nevertheless, he still had to deal with the sankanagi that resulted from his coming to Subaru's defense almost half a week ago. Sometimes the bigger spells worked that way; instead of one huge bang, the lashback trickled in over a course of several days, causing more of a nuisance than a panic - and so it was now. Unfortunately, Seishirou couldn't seem to concentrate on dealing with it. Pausing in his report to rest his fingers, he sat up in his chair, rubbing the back of his neck tiredly and thinking about Subaru. Subaru, who was sometimes surely more trouble than he was worth - and yet, oddly, of late Seishirou had begun to feel that exactly the opposite was true.

He sat in his lab, surrounded by the constant white noise of animal sounds, inunndated by their normal pet smell and supposedly focused on the report beneath his palms. But in reality, he neither heard nor smelled his surroundings, and the report had sat for the past three hours unfinished. Seishirou could not. Stop. Thinking. About Subaru.

Subaru. Beautiful, beautiful Subaru; unique, innocent - in spite of everything and anything that had been done to him, whether he remembered it or not, and likely to remain that way pretty much forever. It was one of the reasons Seishirou had seen fit to pick this boy as the raison d'etre of his experiment.

Subaru was an amazing creature, more innocent in some ways than the animals Seishirou treated; and as he thought about it, amused rather than annoyed at the boy's lack of self-preservation, he began to wonder why he'd decided to wait for a full year in the Bet anyway.

There was no need to wait. It was a given that he'd won, a given that nothing had changed, and really the only reason this farce had continued at all was because it kept Seishirou from being horrifically bored. But now, you know; somehow, keeping the Bet going, knowing he'd won, was just not as inviting. Somehow, suddenly - other things looked better.

Like hunting down Subaru in the middle of his current assignment, possibly fucking him, ripping out his heart and feeding it still beating to the glorious sakura tree in Ueno Park.

"Mmm," Seishirou commented to himself on this particular fantasy, closing his eyes and feeling the warmth of Subaru's blood running down his arm, seeing in his mind the crystal green of Subaru's eyes - probably leaking tears - losing focus and going dull, FEELING the power from feeding Subaru's soul to the tree -

And why stop there? Who said he had to take Subaru out right away, now that he knew he'd won the Bet? Because of course he had won; Seishirou had studied the human being for many years as a truly objective casual observer, and knew that the way "lovers" felt had absolutely no bearing on him. 

No, there was no need to kill Subaru at all just yet - the boy's death was his, to take when he felt it was time. But the boy's LIFE - now, there was something else again. What would it be like, Seishirou wondered, to have and keep the boy until it was time for him to die?

Not unlike the animals populating his lab right now, really; but oh... SO much more interesting.

Delicious. Succulent. Amusing, defiled did he but know it and yet - _ yet, he was still pure._

Therein lay the fascination. Seishirou began musing to himself, smiling as he leaned back in his chair and tapped his lower lip with his pen. How much exactly WOULD it take to soil Subaru's soul? Was such a thing even possible?

Well. Perhaps he'd find out.

Smiling a smile of eager contentment, Seishirou hummed lightly - some random love song he'd heard on the radio - and resumed filling out his report, completing it and the ones to follow with a dexterous speed that only comes from one whose goals and heart were at peace.

* * *

Subaru sighed and squinted at the soiled piece of paper in his hand. The kanji on it was terrible, ridiculously complex and made illegible by the trembling hand of the one who'd written it; but nevertheless, he was FAIRLY sure that this was the right street.

Of course, he could be wrong; he had been on the last three tries.

Subaru removed his hat for a moment to wipe his forehead tiredly, sweating even in the cold because he'd walked over ten miles since breakfast, and had gotten for his trouble only the information that he currently held in his hand. Really, it was beginning to get ridiculous; he'd tracked down all the reliable known magic users in his sector - even a couple he'd normally never go near due to philosophical differences - and the best he'd been able to gather was that nobody knew anything but they knew of somebody who MIGHT. 

It was a nice idea; unfortunately, each of those somebodies had said exactly the same thing as the somebodies before.

Subaru sighed again, stashing the paper back in his pocket and resuming his hunt for houses. This was a section of Tokyo he'd never been in before, and lots of things about it gave him the creeps; but at the moment, to be perfectly honest, he didn't really care. 

He'd been looking all day; and he'd look all night, if that's what it took. This had simply gone on long enough.

It was odd, in a way; as Subaru made a right down a smaller, older sidestreet that surely held the house he was looking for, the doubt and unhappiness that had been plaguing him since he awoke was stronger than it had ever been. Subaru did not really WANT to be head of the Sumeragi; he had never wanted it. Never asked for it. It was simply something that was given him because of his birthparents and inherited power. 

Subaru loved people, it was true; but he also loved animals. Something about the way they accepted without question - the way they were incapable of lying, the way that even hurting one another was nothing more than defensive and survival instinct was so incredibly healing to him. Animals were so simple - so lovely, so delightfully uncomplex and adorable. If he were given his druthers, Subaru would be in the same field Seishirou now occupied: that of veterinarian.

He studied it in his part time; and in fact, when he wasn't busy, he went to Seishirou's clinic and had the treat of being walked through procedures and helping some of the creatures there. There was everything from cats to monkeys, and Subaru loved it; he loved it more than this job, more than the pain he had to go through and see, more than the position he was forced into because his family expected it and - let's be honest here - there was no one else nearly as qualified.

Subaru was young, yes - but he was without doubt the most powerful Sumeragi to appear in centuries, and considering the events that were to come in the future and the fact that the current Sakurazukamori was supposed to also be the most powerful in centuries, Subaru didn't really see that he had a choice.

Well, no; he had a choice. He always had a choice; he just chose to do the right thing.

Difficult as it was, Subaru continued to ignore the niggling doubt, regret, anger and fear that kept trying to interfere with his job. Whatever doubt or worry he had, he knew full well that no one could do what he was doing now - and if he were to stop, it simply would not be done. 

That wouldn't be right. Not right at all.

Steeling his reserve, Subaru took the three steps leading to the door at the address he'd finally found and knocked. 

Time passed. Cool breeze blew rubbish down the streeth, catching it in gutters and rippling the pools of water that had already formed. It had been raining on and off for days.

Patient but insistent, Subaru knocked again, harder; the glass panes in the door rattled, and in the house itself, a dog began barking. To his quiet shame, he found himself more concerned with the dog than the approaching presence of the person who was coming to the door. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to focus.

The door opened.

"Yes?"

"Aramani Kazutaka?" Subaru asked, mildly disturbed at the covering of rags this person wore as if to hide leperousy. The character had a filthy web of power surrounding her, woven and tangled, as if she had been expecting an attack for many years and it had never come. Surrounding... him? Subaru wasn't sure. 

"Yes," the individual croaked in a voice so cigarette-ruined that Subaru STILL wasn't sure.

"I am Sumeragi Subaru. We need to talk."

"Head of the Sumeragi clan?" the woman - he was almost sure - wheezed, and Subaru nodded. "Very well. Come in." She stepped back from the door, allowing him entrance, and the dog Subaru had heard barking tore at him from down the hall with the teeth bared for attack.

Calm, Subaru knelt and held out one hand.

The dog - a large thing, mutt, as rangy as its owner but considerably more fierce, slid to a stop as though Subaru had held up a large and threatening stick, opting instead to snarl from a distance. Lips curled, it growled at him, feet splayed, dripping saliva to the floor.

Subaru did not move. Still, smiling softly, he looked into the dog's eyes and waited.

The dog's owner did not move either, and after a moment, the dog itself seemed to abruptly decide that Subaru was simply no threat at all. Suddenly wagging the tail it had been bristling a moment ago, the dog trotted up to Subaru, panting, and happily licked his face.

Subaru laughed; it was a light, lovely sound, and something that the walls of this place had never heard. All but grinning its pleasure, the dog barked once as if for raw joy; and then, tail still wagging, dissolved into smoke without even the tiniest bit of fanfare.

Wiping his cheek a little, Subaru stood. "Nice inugami," he said, smiling sadly because he knew what it took to make such a creature. 

"Yes, it is," acknowledged the character in rags to the left, sounding just a touch annoyed. "You dealt with it... well."

"A happy dog deserves better masters," Subaru said quietly, only moderately surprised at himself for responding even that acerbically.

The woman snorted. "And here I'd heard you were compassionate. This way." She headed down the hall, tugging her odd rags closer, apparently just assuming Subaru would follow her.

Subaru bit back the reply that came to mind; he was feeling more sarcastic today than he'd ever felt in his life, but at least he was aware of it - and awareness was half the battle. Keeping this in mind and determined to control himself, he followed his unwilling host into her filthy home.

* * *

In a room that might have once been a kitchen had been set up a crystal ball. Subaru, upon entering, had hesitated at the doorway only once - he knew well that this form of magic was verboten to him, and that what he was doing was equivalent to king Saul asking the witch of Endor for advice. However, Subaru's time and resources had failed to produce the culprit - and really, this wasn't quite the same as betraying his beliefs. This was more like asking an enemy exactly where her general was.

"I'm not taking part in any ceremonies," Subaru said by way of caution as the woman sat at her filthy table, and he got the distinct impression she was smiling. Perhaps it had something to do with the angle of her chin, which was the only part of her face he could see.

"And what makes you think I would try to include you in one of my own, Sumeragi Sensei?"

Subaru stiffened slightly. "Don't call me that. I'm not your sensei."

"Ah, but you are the government-sanctioned head of all magic-users in Japan, ne?" The woman chuckled darkly. "I will not purposely address you without respect, Sumeragi Sensei."

_Or without sarcasm, either_, Subaru thought to himself, abjuring from saying it only by a true effort of will. This attitude of his was so extremely weird; maybe he needed to meditate more.

When Subaru did not rise to her jibe, the woman - appently - stopped smiling. Holding her hands over her crystal ball, she said, "I know what it is you want to know."

Subaru wasn't in the mood to play this game. "Just tell me where the source is, please," he said, his tone and eyes similarly cool. The woman frowned.

"Very well. You will find it close to Ueno Park." She fluttered the fingers of one hand over her crystal ball, playing with aura energies that Subaru could sense but not see - and knew better than to touch. This woman had to be insane.

"Close to Ueno Park? That's not good enough - I need more. Please," he remembered to add, at the last moment and almost too brusquely. 

The woman waggled her fingers a little more, long, curved nails moving as if tangling filaments in the air. "Moving. The source of the disturbance... is moving. Toward the east. From the south."

Subaru now felt he knew where the demon was going. "Thank you," he said, and turned to go. The woman stayed seated.

"That's it? You want nothing more?" she asked, sounding very suspicious and cold.

"Not now, no," Subaru said. "But I suggest you free your inugami - before I come back." 

The woman hissed as he shut the door behind him; in the house, he could feel the beginnings of a release spell, which was good - no one needed to keep an inugami around just for general attack purposes, especially not an illegal fortune teller. Oh, but she was more than that; registered as a mere medium, this woman was clearly capable of creating and holding complicated spells for protection, dog spirits, tracking - yes, he would have to visit her again.

Although - now that he was moving and getting some fresh air, it didn't seem such a big issue anymore. Really, there were tons of illegal magic users in Japan, as in any country - they didn't do that much harm, and it wasn't honestly his place to police them. The woman was alone, unhappy, clearly paranoid; she did no harm. Why make her life worse?

In fact, as he walked, Subaru began to regret the decision to tell her to get rid of her inugami. For all he knew, that spirit dog was her only friend.

Feeling terribly guilty, Subaru tugged his hat more tightly over his head and made his way toward Ueno Park. 

* * *

_I know he's coming._

_He comes not really hiding himself, although he should - he does not suspect enough of me yet._

_I want him to suspect. _

_I want him to **fear**._

_Of course, he does neither, simply walking along and ignoring my prompts - to the best of his ability, of course. He cannot resist me forever - no mortal can - but I hope he resists me long enough to at least know who is making his decisions. _

_To know that he has failed._

_Ah, I would pity the child if I were capable. He does not know he is paying a debt centuries older than he is; he will never know - and therein lies the irony. I will enjoy ripping his life between my claws._

_But first - _

_A little play pretend._

* * *

Subaru came within a mile of Ueno Park, and then everything went mad. 

The rain, which had been sporadic all week, suddenly opened up over his head in a torrential cloudburst, and in the sudden, cold shock of it on his skin, Subaru almost missed the surge of power that followed. Not knowing what it was, not even sure where it came from, Subaru ducked and rolled, losing his hat on the sidewalk, and missing the blast by a small enough margin that his left arm was singed. 

The power struck - hard. Concrete split with an ear-deafening sound, and pieces of the sidewalk flew into the air as though hit by a bomb. Dodging, Subaru scrambled back, then tried to source whatever was attacking him.

Another burst of power came at him; and another - and another - 

Breathless, scrambling, slipping in the water and impossible to see

Ofuda out, chanting in movement, watch it - 

singe

burn

pain

And suddenly, Subaru's knew: this had to be Him.

Without hesitation, feeling for Yamato Miko, for the emperor's staff, for anyone and everyone who'd been so needlessly hurt by this being, Subaru summoned a binding spell. His shikigami wove intricate patterns in the air, surrounding it from the outside and drawing the power inward. Between the shikigami and Subaru, magic like blue-green threads tightened, trapping the assailant and constricting its attack.

Power sliced at Subaru again, cutting his cheek; pieces of debris flew past his face, but his eyes glowing with an inner light, he stood his ground. The thing screamed, trying to free itself from the binding Subaru had woven. Tighter, tighter the magic drew, squeezing bits of the creature between its threads, misshaping; and when Subaru took the final step and flung his white ofuda at the center, the net abruptly became completely solid.

The being, such as it was, fell from the air and crashed. Two things happened instantly: the rain stopped - and the creature disappeared. 

Subaru had banished it.

Gasping for breath he didn't know he'd lost, Subaru fell to one knee, his entire body shaking and his hair in his eyes. What had happened? What had it been? What had it even been trying to DO? Just the fact alone that it had known he was coming and lain in wait was disturbing. 

And now it was done; done and over, as well as all the havoc that had sprung from it. He no longer felt that nebulous presence anywhere.

And oddly enough, in spite of his exhaustion, he suddenly felt... better. The doubt that had been plauguing him - the irritation, the impatience - all was gone in the blink of an eye, and Subaru was honestly not aware why he had been feeling them in the first place. 

He didn't want to think about it right now. He was exhausted - moreso than he should have been really, but he was honestly too tired to think about that, either. Job done, weary, and unaware he was still bleeding, Subaru started toward home.

* * *

Hokuto suddenly sat bolt upright; she'd been leaning on her arms, crying and raging for hours, and she KNEW she had been - but suddenly, she wasn't sure why. What in the world had been so horribly painful?

She blinked. She scratched her left ear. She kicked her feet under the counter, but still, she couldn't remember. Puzzled, she gave an odd look to her arms.

"I don't suppose YOU know," she said to them, and when they were not forthcoming, sighed and slipped off the stool. Well, whatever it was, it must have been hormonal - and fortunately seemed to have passed before the boys got home.

Ugh. It had all been so... _teenager_. Mildly disgusted with herself, Hokuto decided to make cookies with lots of chocolate in them and think about it no more. It wouldn't do any good anyway, seeing as she couldn't quite remember what had been wrong.

* * *

Seishirou jumped, startled out of his daydream, and dropped his pen into his lap. He blinked as the sounds of the lab came back into his consciousness, disturbed because he honestly didn't know what time it was, nor how long he'd been there. Checking his watch, he was shocked to see it was after five; he had been supposed to join the Sumeragi twins for dinner at four thirty sharp. Rubbing his head, he sat upright in his chair.

What had he been thinking? Oh, he remembered the content, yes, but not the reasoning. What in the world had gotten into him? Control - self-control - was something he prided himself on, and for good reason - no one had self control like he did. They weren't Sakurazukamori.

Severly discomfited, Seishirou packed up his things and left without even pretending to say goodbye to the animals. Normally, he never broke his persona when in a particular job setting - this was time for vets, not assassins. But right now, he didn't care. 

Still confused and leaning toward anger, Seishirou made tracks for the Sumeragi's apartment, determined to find out WHY he'd lost some control and even more determined never to lose it again. By the time he arrived, he was genuinely - for him - angry; but of course, this did not show. He simply kept it under control.

That's simply the way he was.


	7. A Day in the Life, Part 6

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 6---**_

Subaru stumbled home, weary, tired enough that it seemed he could not keep his balance, and bruised his arm on the doorframe as he finally reached the apartment. He'd been fighting this tiredness all the way home, it seemed - an unnatural, all-consuming fatigue, and as he fell to his knees in the entry hall, only two things surfaced in his mind. 

One was that this was not normal exhaustion, that it was clearly a spell, and that since his vision was blacking out it was a safe bet that it was too late for him to counteract it.

Two was that there were too many sets of shoes in the hallway; Hokuto's Seishirou's, and then two pairs he didn't quite recognize -

Blackness took him, and Subaru crumpled to the floor like dead weight.

* * *

In the distance, not terribly far from where Subaru had fought what he thought was his enemy, a demon threw back its head and laughed. 

Now it was time for some fun.

* * *

Hokuto buried her face in her hands, halfway between tears and semi-hysterical laughter. Caring, warm, Seishirou took her into his arms like an older brother and glared mildly at the men who'd put her in this state.

The men - lawyers, both - were clearly used to such looks and gave no response. In fact, they seemed to be waiting for a response from Hokuto.

After a few moments, she felt in control of herself enough to speak. "So... so Tsunami-san... is dead." She choked a little, missing him sharply just because someone that energetic shouldn't have to die so horribly, then forced herself to continue. "And he left his belongings... to us?"

"That is correct, Sumeragi-san," said the lawyer on the left, adjusting his glasses. "You can see why we had to come and speak to you about this. An estate worth one point six million American dollars is a heavy responsibility for anyone to inherit - especially given the suspicious circumstances of Tsunami Asato's death."

Hokuto whirled on them. "Suspicious circumstances? He BURNED to death! You just told me! And why would he leave that stuff to us, anyway..." she wailed again, turning back to hide against Seishirou's chest. 

The lawyer on the right answered. "That is what we are here to partially solve, Sumeragi-san," he said, straightening his tie perhaps because he didn't wear glasses. "We are aware of you and your brother's... inclinations; and upon investigation with the police, we believe there is enough mystery involving you both to warrant further inquiry."

"What? WHAT?" Hokuto shrieked, staring at them both as if they were gila monsters. "Are you trying to say that we KILLED him? All for his stupid land that we didn't even know we were GETTING?"

Left Lawyer adjusted his glasses again. "We are saying no such thing, Sumeragi-san," he said, unruffled in the extreme. "We are simply here to ask some questions. It does seem slightly suspicious that a man with no history of mental instability in his family or personal life would set fire to his living room, after dousing it and himself with gasoline, and then sit in the middle, apparently playing solitaire, until he died. Don't you think?"

Hokuto stared at him; there was not much else she could do. She paused in answering for a moment because she thought she heard something in the outer foyer; but any such thought was immedietaly buried in a renewed surge of jealousy and anger.

"Well, if you think somebody MADE poor Tsunami do something like that, then you'll have to ask my brother about it, not me. I don't even really HAVE any magical powers or training, isn't that right, Sei-chan?"

Seishirou, for his part, had dropped his look of concern; oddly enough, no one seemed to notice. "Oh, quite right, Hokuto-chan. You have ability, certainly, but no one saw fit to train you." He was aware of Subaru, collapsed in the front; for some reason, he thought it was funny. "It's not your fault you're not special."

Hokuto started slightly and looked at him, surprise and hurt in her eyes, and Seishirou made a comforting noise and pulled her against his chest again. "Now, now," he murmured, as if it were all nothing to get upset over. 

Right Lawyer looked at them for a moment, then at his partner; he was not a man accustomed to emotions - unless one considered sharp suspicion of every man, woman, and child to be emotion - but right now, for some reason, he felt them. He looked at Left Lawyer, a small frown tugging at his lips.

"Say, Suzuki-san," he said, in the tone of a query he felt should have been brought up before. "Why do you always get the lead-in questions? Can't I get to do them sometime?"

Left Lawyer, aka Suzuki, looked at him. "That's a stupid question, Tanaka-san," he said, not snapping, but definitely condescending. "I'm the senior officer here. Of COURSE I always get to ask the important questions." He eyed his partner. "And if I have anything to say about it, you whiny, boot-licking toad, I always WILL."

"Why, you - " Right Lawer/Tanaka had had enough. It had been one thing getting paired with this ass for a partner - but now... no. This was simply too much. Forgetting about his clients and his purpose for being there, he attacked Suzuki with a feral snarl, knocking them both onto the kitchen floor and shouting obscenities.

Hokuto didn't seem to hear them. She was crying, softly, against Seishirou's chest, wrapped securely in his arms, but not comforted for all that.

"...it's true, isn't it?" she whimpered, barely able to speak for the ache in her heart. "I'm not... special."

"No, Hokuto-chan, you're not," Seishirou assured her, more aware of Subaru in the front hall than he was of the girl in his arms, and came to a decision. "I think you need to leave, Hokuto-chan," he said.

She looked up, fighting her tears and losing. "It's not fair," she barely managed, but Seishirou was not listening to her at all now.

"Yes, yes," he murmured, patted her on the back lightly, and then pushed her off him. Surprised, she stumbled back against the counter and watched as Seishirou moved into the hallway like a stalking lion and returned a moment later with Subaru in his arms.

Subaru was deeply unconscious; his hat had come off, his cheek was bleeding, and his limbs swung limply against Seishirou's body. He was completely unresponsive.

Hokuto hitched once. "But... I... you were..."

"Go away, Hokuto-chan," Seishirou said not unkindly, and carried Subaru to the bedroom. 

Hokuto put her face in her hands and began to cry.

* * *

_Ah... and outside, everything proceeds exactly according to plan._

_The chaos inside the Sumeragi apartment is nothing; nothing compared to what I will do to this Tokyo and this World for what they have done to me - _

_A small fight here, a realization of self there, merely just sparks in the fire I will build to my glory out of this country and these souls. _

_All men are selfish - all have evil inside, and it takes so LITTLE to inflame. So beautiful - ah... the first drops of blood spilled! Yes!_

_... at last..._

_I am free!_

* * *

Outside the apartment, chaos had exploded. There were shouts, screams, sirens, glass breaking, and the more violent sounds of vehicles smashing into buildings and through people. It grew louder, as though all of Tokyo were becoming a mob, penetrating even the walls and windows of this apartment. But Seishirou did not feel a thing.

What did it matter to him what normal men did? He was above them, and so was his prey. His prey; such a beautiful prey, at that....

Subaru lay on the bed, pale, hair rumpled, blood beginning to dry on his cheek; his eyelids were completely still. Whatever sleep he was in, it was deeper, darker than REM.

Seishirou smiled softly and bent down to lick the blood off Subaru's face slowly, almost lovingly, and rubbed his cheek against the Sumeragi's.

"Mmmine," he purred, fingers in Subaru's hair, and did not initially notice Hokuto standing in the doorway. "Yes, Hokuto-chan?" he said, sitting up, smiling without even a hint of guilt.

"I'm leaving," she said, and Seishirou nodded. 

"Of course you are," he said, and went back to stroking Subaru's hair and watching his face. "Did you need any money to get where you are going?"

"No," she said, heavily, and walked toward the bed. "I only needed one thing." She stopped by the bed, looking down at Subaru with a weird combination of regret, anger, pain and envy. "Subaru," she breathed, putting all those and more into her whispered tone, and bent down over him so as to spit her words in his face.

"I hate you," she said, not really meaning it, but feeling so driven to say it that she could say nothing else. "No one but you ever mattered. Maybe no one but you ever will. Fine, Subaru... you just... KEEP your stupid humility and your blindness - at least I know you'll never know how special you are, and I hope it HURTS you. I hope it hurts." She straightened, feeling nauseated from the virtriol in her mind. "I'm never coming back. Goodbye." And with that - and not a word for Seishirou - she turned and stormed out the door.

Seishirou chuckled softly, shaking his head. "That must have been building up for a long time, don't you think, Subaru-ku- Oh, my. Why, you didn't HEAR that, did you?" Seishirou bent down again, over Subaru's face, and wiped away one of the tears that had appeared as if by magic on the boy's cheeks. 

"So beautiful," he murmured, admiring the jewel-like beauty of the tear, and turning Subaru toward him, kissed his lips.

Subaru did not respond, and yet the tears kept coming; perhaps he had heard, after all.

* * *

Hokuto walked into the epitome of madness in the streets; but because she herself was so distraught, she didn't seem to notice. Avoiding everyone, she ran for the train station, and thus, missed the worst part.

Parents were attacking children. Children were attacking one another, animals, anything that mattered. Men and women of all kinds were in every stage of distress, depression, and fury, clawing at the brick walls of the buildings, face first on the sidewalk and braying their tears, shouting hated at one another or on their way toward someone else they wanted to hurt.

Any semblence of neighborly love, common sense, or indeed anything other than selfish, toddler-like anger had disappeared completley from the streets. And like an atom bomb, the effects and power of this spread outward, a rapidly growing circle, and carried everyone it touched with it.

* * *

Far away, in Kyoto, Subaru's grandmother cringed, gripping her heart, swaying on her feet as she felt the power of that demonic release. Managing to get one breath, she wasted it immediately. 

"No... he has..." And she fell; the garden steps were stone, and steep, and no one knew she'd fallen. It would be another hour before her servants would find her there, alive, but injured - and it was anyone's guess whether the evil from the Demon would reach her place by that time or not. 

* * *

And in Tokyo, in Ueno Park, a being as old as the stars and as evil as men's dreams took shape, and there it walked under the sakura for the first time in two millennia.

"At last," he hissed, the fanged mouth in his stomach yawning and sakura petals being crushed by his cloven hooves. "At last... it is again... mine!" 

He waited for the Sakurazukamori to bring the Sumeragi to him.


	8. A Day in the Life, annex 2

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, annex 2---**_

-----_**2,000 years ago**_----

There was another scream, and Sumeragi Genji ducked out of pure reflexive habit. It was a good thing, too; a blade - broken, possibly part of a katana - came flying from the kitchen, embedding itself into the wall above his head. Cursing softly under his breath, Genji ran for the door.

He left behind him a weary, amazing man - the emperor of Japan, suffeirng from the demon's ire as well, but still hanging on to his duties as the ruler of the mightiest country in the world. He had called Genji in to give him a solemn and frightening charge.

Find the demon and stop it before it ruined all of Japan.

Genji was a powerful onmyouji, it was true; he'd had the gift for it all his life, and he personally guessed that one or both of his parents had, too. But since he'd been the only survivor of a barbarian raid on his village, an infant, he would never know. There were no records.

Wiping sweat from his brow, Genji removed an ofuda and looked at it, shaking his head and breathing very carefully. He could feel a wave of that selfish, powerful evil wash across him, almost moving like reflection of sun on glass, but Genji steeled himself until it passed. This was getting more dangerous; he was sure - somehow, instinctively sure - that the demon had the ability to simply flood the entire country with this horror, but for some reason, it was taking its time instead.

There was a possibility that the being was doing it because it was bored; or perhaps because it didn't want everything to end too quickly. No humans left alive meant no playthings, and if this were the case, then Genji had a chance. Gritting his teeth and stuffing his ofuda back into his kimono quickly, he stormed through the door and nearly collided with a woman coming the other way.

Genji stopped as if he'd hit a wall. "Sakurazukamori," he hissed at her, slipping his hand back into his robe as if to grab for a weapon.

The woman - petite, beautiful, stunningly elegant - smiled at him. Not that she ever did anything else. "Now, Sumeragi-san," she chirped lightly, her voice somehow both rich and playful at once. "I'm not here to attack you - "

"For once," Genji muttered, but she continued as if he hadn't spoken.

"Nor to try to seduce you again - stubborn that you are," she said, and touched his chin. Genji leapt back as if her touch had burned. His eyes - green, unusual if not unheard of in this land - narrowed, communicating things he probably would not allow himself to say; and she laughed.

"Silly Sumeragi," she said, smiling and walked past him. "Perhaps once I have won my case with the emperor, he will let me have you anyway. Such a pretty thing..."

"You're sick."

She laughed again, as if she were only teasing and didn't mean what she said. And to be honest, Genji wasn't sure if she did. 

Everything about the Sakurazukamori was so... cool. So cold, so controlled, so _above_ everything that went on around her. And she used onmyoujitsu to kill.

Genji had trouble explaning exactly why this was as wrong as he felt it was. He knew it was, and would have willingly died to defend the belief, but his view was very unusual and even somewhat unpopular. Of course one used magic to kill - it was the best defensive/offensive weapon in existence. Why wouldn't anyone want to do so?

"Because it's wrong," Genji muttered to himself, turning to leave once more and ignoring the Sakurazukamori. But he couldn't resist a parting comment. 

"You're too late, anyway," he said to her, looking at her. "He's already guaranteed me the position - if I can do away with the demon on the mountain."

The Sakurazukamori stared at him. "What?" she said, quietly, for once not smiling.

"You heard me," Genji said, and walked out before she could say anything else. He had exaggerated a little, but not much; he knew if he could defeat the demon - which he was already planning to fight, anyway - the Emperor would certainly give him the position of chief onmyouji. And if that happened... 

Well. Things would change around here. No more assassins of onmyouji - that would never be allowed again, at least if he had his way. But all this daydreaming was for later; for now, Genji had other things to do. 

* * *

The demon was on the mountain, for the simple reason that it was easier to see. He loved the chaos he created, and as he sat observing his kingdom - HIS kingdom - he smiled at the carnage. Lifting one hand, he pointed at the city below and simply moved his arm from one end of the horizon to the other, as if decrying a line of real estate. Nothing visible came from his hand, but the result was obvious immediately. 

Every one within the range of that finger went completely mad. 

For almost half an hour this went on, until the demon grew tired of it and with a wave of his hand, cut the power off. Then he had fun watching them scramble and try to make up for what they'd done, watching them find the bodies of their loved ones they'd killed, watching them simply lean against any available surface and wonder why they were going crazy and if the gods had abandoned them. 

Smiling, the demon licked his lips. He had had this city as his own for a long time, but only recently had decided he was tired of waiting for the End - for that end which was not to come for another two thousand years, and even then, might not arrive if the Kamui chose to save his people. No, the demon - known as Kyouran because of the frenzy, fury, and madness he caused - wanted to play _now_. 

And who was there to stop him? Japan's onmyouji were nothing. China would not help; and no other brand of magic in all the world had an effect on his particular kind of evil. There was no one to stand against him, no one in his way; and if he brought the apocalypse early, then so be it. Kyouran would not be caged.

The few who had tried to approach him were long dead. No one else dared, or so he thought; and so it was for this reason that the discovery of a young, slender, male human climbing his hill to meet him was somewhat unexpected.

Kyouran let him come. It was something to do. It was only as the young man approached that Kyouran recognized the thin, subtle play of power surrounding this man. Narrowing his eyes, Kyouran ran through the mental list he'd made of all the magic-users in Japan, and almost immediately came up with an answer.

"Sumeragi," he said, displeased, and waited for the boy to come.

* * *

Genji came. He had paced himself, careful not to end up tired at the end of his climb; it had taken four hours, but he was still breathing normally. Standing at the edge of the plain the demon had claimed as its own, Genji stood, the wind ruffling the strands of hair that had come loose from his ponytail. Silent, he looked.

A demon lord looked back. It was huge - almost twice his height - roughly human-shaped, with strange, leathery skin and cloven hooves. And it was definitely male; clearly unconcerned with its nakedness, the demon lounged, absurd manhood coiled in its lap, and watched him. It seemed to be waiting for him to do something.

Genji bowed. "Akuma-sama," he addressed it politely as he could, more aware than ever of the glory that came with this evil thing, and almost sorry that he'd have to destroy it. 

The mouth in the demon's stomach yawned. "Sumeragi," it said, and then let the mouth in its face do the rest of the speaking. "I killed your parents," it informed him casually, and Genji blinked.

A moment passed; Genji could feel himself getting distracted, could FEEL it trying to distract him, and knew that it wasn't trying hard enough. It didn't know it needed to - and if he was wise, he wouldn't give it the chance to realize it's mistake.

Genji dropped his gaze. "You... what?" he said, letting more anger than he felt creep into his tone because it was expected, and using the opportunity to slide some ofuda into his hands from his sleeves. "But... why?" 

The demon was beginning to look uninterested in him; the stomach-mouth yawned again. "Because they were dangerous to me," the demon said, looking away as if bored. "And I suppose you are, too - although I respect you for the courage and will it took to bring you here. Tell me, Sumeragi: would you prefer a quick death? Or a slower, mad one - to enjoy the sufferings of your fellow man down below?"

Genji flinched. "What kind of a choice is that?" he said, clutching the ofuda and hoping desperately that he could move fast enough.

"A fair one, Sumeragi," answered the demon, unconcerned as its stomach-mouth began to lick the flesh around it as if cleaning. "And the only one anyone is going to get -and I only offer it to you because you are here, and I am bored. I can promise you this, Sumeragi, onmyouji: if you let me take your mind, you won't know when you die. That is the glory of madness."

And for a moment, Genji swayed on his feet. He could feel the raw power of this being, not overwhelming him only because it wasn't trying to, and nearly fell. It sounded so seductive - so sweet. To simply slip into madness and never even know the pain of death. To....

No. Genji looked up, without the willpower to hide his determination now, but at least standing on his own feet by his own choice.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Akuma-sama," Genji said quietly, and closed his eyes. "I'm afraid I only have one choice before me - and it's not something you can give." And knowing that he was probably going to die, he summoned all the power he could, all the power he'd been carefully and slowly gathering since the emperor gave him his mission, and flung it at the demon.

* * *

Kyouran had not expected it. Such power from a human! He almost did not move in time to avoid being burned; almost. With a lithe speed that belayed his size, Kyouran leapt over and to the side, aiming for a spot just behind the Sumeragi so as to surprise him when he landed. But Kyouran was in for a surprise. He stopped, inches above the ground, frozen in place as he felt the edges of a binding spell he'd not known was there come at him from all sides. 

Kyouran roared.

* * *

Genji knew the demon would have plenty of time to move, and it was hard to stay steady, knowing that that much mass, that much EVIL was coming at him. But stay still, he did; the blast of power he'd sent pretty much destroyed the throne of the beast, and, as he'd hoped, the monster flew around and tried to come down behind him.

Crossing his arms and clenching his fists as if around invisible ropes at his sides, Genji leaned forward, braced himself, and pulled.

"HA!" he shouted, managing to pull his hands around as far as his chest; and then the demon started fighting back.

A horrible roar, the combination of nightmare sounds and wild beasts, ripped through the air and shook the earth, blasting Genji's back with white-hot heat and covering him with spittle. It tried to get to him, both with claws and power, straining against the extra walls Genji had put between him and the monster, but it could not; teeth bared and buffetting as if in a strong wind, Genji held his stance and pulled more tightly. His fists were now even with one another, his arms uncrossed.

* * *

Kyouran roared, thrashed, cracked the earth beneath and around him, but could not hit the Sumeragi with his power. Desperate, he tried to incite other humans to come to his aid, but this was futile; anyone else was miles away, and too concerned with their own problems to want to obey him. 

Such was the burden of a being who worked through selfisness.

Desperate, he reached for the Sumeragi one last time, straining; and then, the human unleased his final spell.

* * *

Genji knew at that moment that he could not do it.

He did not have the power necessary to destroy this creature. No one did that now lived, and Genji could not help but wish he'd been one of the Seals of heaven that was prophesied to come from his own line. Then he'd have the power; but as things stood, he did not, and this left him only one choice.

He could not destroy it; so, he had to hide it.

Roaring almost as loud as the creature at his back, Genji wrenched his arms further apart, straining his muscles and voice so hard that he was sore and hoarse for the next two weeks. White power exploded around him, eclipsing them both in its light, and with the last force of will he could muster, Genji sealed it away.

There was an explosion of sound, heard as far away as Kyoto; the monster suddenly disappeared, sucked into the earth to be buried alive, and sealed by Genji's own power. It disappeared; Genji held his stance for a moment longer, making sure his trickery had worked, making sure that this creature would STAY where it was for as long as forever, if possible.

It was done. 

Genji relaxed, exhausted; he fell forward onto his hands, the skin blistering slightly where the monster's spittle had touched him, and gasped for air. It was done; he did not even have to look to know that the chaos down below had eased. That sanity had finally returned to Japan.

Genji could not return to the palace for two days. It took him that long to drag himself off the mountain and to a place with medical aid, for though he was not dying, he was hurt; and even then, he was not entirely surprised to discover upon his return that he had been made officially the overseer of all magic in Japan.

The Sakurazukamori was nowhere to be found; and with this, for now, Genji would have to be content.

He did not spare a thought for the demon in the mountain; it would never be freed so long as the earth stayed strong, and even if it did, there was nothing he could do to stop it. He would not have the power to face it again, not now that it knew his tricks; and he could only pray that if it ever were released, it would be in a time when there were men who could face such a creature.

He was sure that if it ever came back, next time... it would not be playing.

* * *

_**----2,000 years later----**_

The Tamagochi Blue Steel construction company had taken a great deal of pride in winning the bid to work on this land. Belonging to the emperor's estate, this particular foothill overlooked Tokyo with a glorious view, standing just high enough above the city that a jeep was necessary to reach the place. It guaranteed privacy and a sense of "special." 

And of course, building the guest home here was costing a fortune.

The workers of Blue Steel were extremely pleased with winning the bid since they didn't have much to do. The ground had been tested - it was solid bedrock all through this area, and since the building would not require a basement, this made their job all the easier. In fact, there were no problems at all until the third day. 

The men who actually saw it happen had trouble describing it because the moment after it came, they were completely distracted. They were digging, working on laying the foundation, plumbing and electricity for the house, when suddenly there was a large, muted _whump_ underneath their feet; and suddenly, a puff of red smoke - it was red, everyone was positive on this point - shot up from the earth and dissipated into the air.

At least, presumably it dissipated; no sooner had the men looked at it when they found other things considerably more interesting.

There were fifteen fist-fights that day; two people abandoned the dig altogether, and twenty-two attempted to carry off valuable equipment when they left. All of these workers were tried and true, dependable, well-known and mature; none could give an explanation for their behavior.

The foreman opted not to report the weirdness. It just seemed better for such things to be kept quiet.

And far off, freed finally after two millennia of bondage, the demon Kyouran watched and planned its revenge.


	9. A Day in the Life, Part 7

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 7---**_

"Sumeragi Subaru - enter," said the servant, and nervously, Subaru did. 

He wondered where he was and why as he entered, obeying more out of habit and a sense of _belonging_ than any kind of set plan. Confused, he clutched his hat in his hands and looked around the room.

A strange mixture of rock and wood comprised his surroundings, somehow combining materials as simple as hay with the elegance of carven stone in a seamless ambience. Woven materials bearing symbols of power, peace, and binding hung from the walls and lay on the floor, ensuring by their nature that no power with intent to harm could easily enter this house. And yet for all their effect, they were ancient; Subaru only recognized them because his grandmother had insisted he know the old ways as well as the more recent - "recent," of course, being anything after the Meiji era. 

Tureens bearing incense nestled hidden along the walls. Subaru shivered as he walked forward, feeling the power of this apparent operation base, aware in the way that one can be when asleep that this was the Yayoi era - and yet... it felt like home. 

He kept walking, no longer waiting for anyone to direct him, drinking in the atmosphere and wondering how long the owner of this residence had been able to maintain such a wonderful sense of peace. Of course, the length of this hallway couldn't be real; it seemed to go on forever, with no end in sight, and the depth of power and peace of influence never faltered or grew dim. Subaru closed his eyes for a while as he walked, feeling safe, secure; without strife. And then, he became aware of someone watching him. 

Turning, he looked; there was a man sat in the shadows on a high, carved block, his legs curled up and his arms resting on his knees.

"You noticed, finally," said the man in an dialect so old that Subaru knew he could not know it - and yet, he understood.

"This place... it's beautiful," Subaru said, tears standing in his eyes as the man unfolded from his position smoothly and came toward him. 

"Yes. It is my home." The man came out of the shadows, and Subaru inhaled slightly. A moment of dizziness took him as the unreality of seeing an older version of himself in ancient kimono approached. The man smiled with identical green eyes. "You look like I used to, as a boy," he said, and stopped.

Subaru looked up at him. He considered, for a moment, the fact that his sister HAD been correct about long hair - it would suit him, even tied back - and then regathered enough of his senses to begin to question. "Where is this?"

"I told you - this is my home," the man answered, unmoving, studying Subaru's face as keenly as Subaru studied his own. "Of course, in your time, it no longer exists as a physical place; but there are those of us who have earned the right to choose our surroundings after we die."

"And you chose to stay... home," Subaru said, and looked around for a brief moment before returning his gaze to the man's.

"Wouldn't you?" the man said, and smiled gently; and in that smile, Subaru saw the first real difference between them. There was a hardness - an ability to deceive, perhaps, or certainly to lie without flinching that Subaru did not possess. The man seemed to sense that difference as well, and something in his expression softened.

"Do not fear me, Sumeragi Subaru, master of onmyoujitsu and head of our clan," he said. "I did not come here to lie to you. My purpose is simple - and my time is short."

"Oh," said Subaru, knowing that this was a stupid response but thrown too off-kilter by the realization that he had to leave this paradise to give a better response. Tighter, he looked around again, as if to memorize what a perfect home of peace and safety felt like.

"Look at me. We do not have time." And the man walked past Subaru, toward the wall - and directly into one of the woven tapestries, disappearing into its depths as easily as water.

Subaru gasped. Well, that had certainly been different; hoping that whatever pervading magic had enabled the man to go through would be effective for him, Subaru followed, flinching slightly but not closing his eyes as he went through - and only noticing at the last moment that the symbol sewn into this tapestry was kishikata - the word for past. 

* * *

Sensation swallowed him; lapping at his skin like sentient oil, it parted the way for him and shuttled him through to the other side, where he stood in the air next to that man who was somehow both his past and his future and watched a story play out below.

"A demon of ancient days rampages in the world, and misery follows," intoned the man, narrating even as Subaru watched. "A man - young, determined, though afraid, causes its downfall, but could not destroy it; this would come much later. And the demon itself swore revenge."

Subaru swallowed. "Is that... is that what I'm up against?" he said quietly, knowing now, even as he'd feared when he passed out, that whatever he'd defeated had been a decoy. The monster was still out there.

"Yes," said the man. "And I'm afraid he hates you. I'm sorry."

Subaru was silent for a moment. He watched the battle beneath him, watched what had to be done, and made an educated guess as to how it had been freed - everyone knew this section of Tokyo was being landscaped for a new guest mansion for the emperor's estate. "But... what shall I do?" he asked quietly, afraid, and the man turned away.

"You have to be strong." 

Blue fire exploded below him, the last lashing attempts of the demon to escape; in its harsh light, the planes of the man's face stood out in stark relief.

"You have to be stronger than I was."

Red fire now, this man's own answer to the demon's fury, and the sounds of their cries twisted in the air.

"You have to be stronger than he is - and resist."

Subaru was confused. "But.. what should I DO? How do I defeat it?"

The man was silent; blue light and red danced along the smooth skin of his face and neck, and his eyes were hidden. "You have to fight your own desires to win."

Subaru went silent. "What?" he asked after a long while, all but whispered, and the man finally turned to look at him.

"I have taken too long. You have to go."

"Wait - no!" Subaru said, but before his eyes this man and his posthumous world were receding, blurring, fading away.

"Your enemy, Sumeragi Subaru, is not the demon."

Subaru strained to hear.

"Your enemy is yourself."

And then everything disappeared; and Subaru woke up.

* * *

Subaru did not wake up until after the spell was lifted, of course, but even then his trek to reality was slow. Between the dream he'd had and the sick realization that he'd been had, he almost did not want to wake up at all. Oh, he'd most certainly been had; the thing he'd bound and banished had not been the real enemy at all, and while he'd been doing that, it had put a spell of sleep on him so strong that he could not fight it off. It had taken a lot of energy to even reach his own home, and now he somehow had to get up and go after the demon again when he'd already BEEN hunting it for a week. It certainly wasn't fair; it also wasn't going to be easy. Sighing and rubbing his face, Subaru shifted a little and then came to the realization that he was naked.

He froze. 

He never slept naked; never. More than a little spooked, Subaru focused his wakening senses on his surroundings, and in a moment realized that he wasn't in his room.

Turning his head, he found a green, digital clock on the nightstand; it was after one in the morning. "Where in the world..." he began, and then behind him, someone chuckled. It was a low, soft sound, wafted over his skin and making him shiver for reasons he couldn't quite grasp. The worst thing about it was that he thought he recognized the voice.

"Awake now, Subaru-kun?" 

Subaru tried to twist to see him. "Seishirou-san?" he spurted in disbelieve, and then strong, warm arms slid around his waist - moving more quickly than he could in his befuddled state - and pulled him against Seishirou's body. Surprise surprise; he was naked, too.

"Gah!" Subaru said.

"Mmm... I was wondering when they'd lift that spell," Seishirou murmured dangerous, not sure whose spell it was, and Subaru - panicking now, not even sure if this was really happening, struggled abruptly and fiercely. 

It turned out to be a wasted effort; Seishirou let him go the moment he tried to pull away and just lay there, smiling at him.

Subaru stood, tugging the sheet around his waist, sputtering. "Wh... Seishirou-san.. what... what in the world... what...."

"Oh, now - don't tell me you don't remember?" Seishirou's eyes glittered dangerously, matching his coldly intimate smile, and Subaru shuddered and took a step back. "You are here, with me; your sister left you, because she hates you. And if you don't run, I am going to kill you." And he smiled.

Subaru took another step back. "Wh... what?" This couldn't be real; _none_ of this could be real.

Seishirou sat up slowly, the bedcover sliding slowly from his body as if it were reluctant to stop touching his skin. "Oh, it's real, Subaru-kun," he purred, and power began to form around him. "It's more real than you know - and it will kill you, if you do not run. Right. Now." And he smiled, and crouched slightly forward on the bed, his eyes glinting gold and his power emanating danger.

Subaru could not think about this. He ran. 

Snatching the only article of clothing he found on the way - his own onmyouji robes, of all things - he sped headlong for the door, still not sure where he was but grateful for the fact that this apartment was at least somewhat similar to his own. Stumbling, he yanked the robes over his head in one strained pull, and it was only as he unlocked and ran through the door that he recalled the old adage never to run from a predator - because then it would surely chase you.

* * *

Subaru stepped into the hall and immediately ducked, his trained reflexes pulling him out of the projectile's path before his mind had fully comprehended the threat. A large butcher knife embedded itself into the wall just above his head.

Subaru had a moment to wonder why that felt familiar, and then the person who'd thrown it came at him bearing a knife in each hand; rather than fight this person when he was already confused, he ran.

Subaru went flying outside, and was shocked to realize he did not know where this was. He could not identify the building, could not identify the streets - but for all of that, his attention was on anything but his lost condition. 

Everything around him was trashed. This wasn't the kind of defacing gangs and unruly youths did to prove themselves, nor even the kind violent protestors would do. There seemed to be neither rhyme nor reason for what he saw - it was as if a huge and unhappy infant had come through this place and simply crushed it all into pieces. 

Hopping lightly over a street light that had somehow been bent all the way to the ground, he finished tying the knots on his robes and continued toward the end of the road, hoping that at least the cross section would give him some idea of where he was. Almost no one was outside; but those few who were ignored him completely, running past, screaming, weeping, shouting incoherently, even tearing at their own eyes and skin. Horrified, confused, he continued on, trying desperately to understand WHAT could have happened to turn this place into hell.

And then behind him, he felt it; Seishirou was coming.

Subaru made a choked sound and turned the corner, looking desperately for an escape that would at least afford him time enough to think. He was only now becoming aware that his body felt... different, used in ways that he didn't like to think about, and as he ran, he cried. 

Up ahead and wandering loose was a horse than had been abandoned by its police officer; he wasn't sure what good fate had seen fit to provide this deus ex machina exit for him, but he wasn't about to complain. Somehow pulling himself onto the horse's back, he urged it into a rapid trot, and then simple draped across its back and waited to see where it would take him. 

* * *

After a while, Subaru recognized where he was and steered accordingly vaguely in the direction of his home. Seishirou's words had shaken him on a deep and terrible level because he knew they were true; it didn't matter that he couldn't place when he'd heard Hokuto saying she hated him - he knew he had, and he also knew there was nothing he could do now to bring her back. He had to... had to....

What did he have to do? It had to do with a demon - the demon from his dream, that much he remembered, but exactly what was involved in what he was supposed to do? It was horrible; he couldn't remember. He couldn't even think clearly. The only thing he could understand clearly right now was that he was suffering because he was the clan head of the Sumeragi, and he didn't want to be anymore. 

Sniffling just a little, he wiped his face on his sleeve and tried to think. Simple fact: there was a demon who was ruining his life because he was the Sumeragi clan head. It was enough to make one paranoid and ungrateful, and although it wasn't exactly the main problem in town at this time, he was having difficulty focusing on anything else.

He'd never asked to be the Sumeragi clan head. He'd never asked to be hunted by his best friend and betrayed by his sister, he'd never asked for the pain and misery that came with this job, he'd never asked to have his dreams taken away, to have his own desires always and forever squashed because he _had to think of other people_ - he'd never asked for any of it. And now he was crying again; crying for a wasted life, for lost dreams, for lost friends and family, for the utter confusion that was his present situation and because there seemed to be no cure. It was too much to think about - especially since he knew without question that Seishirou was behind him somewhere, hunting him for some reason he did not know; and would not stop until Subaru had been killed.

It was sickening. It was terrifying. It was a nightmare come true - but it wasn't the real issue.

At least twenty minutes had passed since he'd fled Seishirou's apartment, but his surroundings had not improved. If anything they were worse, because now there were bodies. 

Women, children, men young and old lay scattered in the street, not all dead but certainly incapable of moving. No one was helping them; twice, Subaru saw the remains of a medical vehicle, the first one abandoned, the second one crashed, the personnel belonging to them long gone. Animals released from pet shops, veterinary clinics, and homes ran wild in the streets, and Subaru knew it was only a matter of time before the domesticated ones had no choice but to eat the only food readily available - which would be the bodies of humans still left in the streets, rotting.

Disease would fester because of this, and since there was no one to run the power plants, the plumbing facilities, to take care of garbage or accidents or anything else, plague would most definitely result. Even just the fact that there was now no one to process food meant that within a few days, people would be starving - and then it would be everyone for themselves. 

Japan would die. As would the next country this evil deigned to visit. And the next. And the next. Other people would lose their sisters and friends and lovers and husbands and children; everyone would suffer and fade, and the world would end in misery. 

_...no._

Subaru choked, clutching at his chest as though his heart hurt him; bending over the saddle, he forced the horse to a stop. No, it wasn't fair that he had to be what he was but then what did that make the rest of this? No one deserved to suffer this way - to drown in their own darkness and kill themselves and each other. The world did not deserve to end this way - 

And if the question was whether or not Subaru should be the Sumeragi and suffer in his one life, or whether he should make his own way and the world should die, then it really wasn't much of a question... was it. 

No; no, it wasn't. Subaru sat as upright as he could, clearly in physical pain from the strain of resisting the demon's influence, and focused on the evil power all around him. He was trying to trace it; it seemed impossible, like trying to find one stream of freshwater in an ocean of salt, and Subaru realized he didn't have time to do this the old fashioned way. Patting the horse's neck calmingly, he folded his hands and began to recite a simple spell. 

It was nearly impossible to concentrate while being bombarded with so much misery; but after a few minutes, his habit of meditated concentration kicked in. His body began to glow, sending off a delicate shine that looked even lovelier for the lack of beauty around him, and suddenly three doves shot up from his hands as if escaping for their lives, flitting into the air and leaving a trail of fading sparkles behind them. Subaru watched them for a moment, then spurred his horse to keep moving, trusting them to return when they'd received an answer.

* * *

Kyouran was resting under the great sakura tree in Ueno Park. His throne was a temporary one, it was true, but that hardly mattered - for now, he merely meant to wait until the Sumeragi came to him. He was fairly sure that the Sakurazukamori would bring him after he'd finished playing with him; and even if he didn't, surely the boy would come here eventually. His destiny lay here - his past and his present, his future and his death; surely the boy would come.

It surrpised him mildly when three doves - glowing, brilliant and beautiful - came flitting over the edge of the trees and into the small clearing, following the footpath that led around the tree. Innocent as butterflies, they came toward him, cooing lightly as their greeting and circling him twice before heading off again.

He did not disturb them; he knew searching shikigami when he saw them, and now knew that Subaru would be on his way. Which was good; he didn't want to wait here any longer, when he could be up high, watching the carnage from a much cleaner perspective. Humans were amusing, but they made SUCH an awful smell.

But first - a calling card. He raised one hand, and in his palm a slender, black rod formed, tapered at both ends and shining like the talons on his fingers; without much visible effort he threw it, and it impaled one of the shikigami straight through its center.

* * *

Subaru gagged and hunched forward, nearly falling off the horse as he clutched his stomach; the moment he sent the shikigami, the temporary relief he'd gained by meditating had fled. He'd felt the destruction of that shikigami like a punch in the gut. At least it was now a certainty that he knew where the demon was. 

Turning toward Ueno Park, he urged the horse into a gallop; his life, his doubts, his, fears and his struggle no longer mattered. Subaru had a job to do.


	10. A Day in the Life, Part 8

_**---Tokyo Babylon † A Day in the Life, pt. 8---**_

_Everything's happening... so quickly._

_I... I don't think I can do this, Mr. Horse. And I know, you can't understand me anyway, but... really, that's all right. I've always liked talking to animals. _

_Always liked -_

_No, NO stop. Stop that; don't think about that. Have to think about what I need to do... right... now._

_...oh my gods - there he is_

_Demon_

_Huge, leathery skin, his... gods, his penis is almost hanging to the ground - I thought it was his tail - _

_he was waiting for me_

_"Sumeragi," he says, and my eyes go dark for a moment because it hurts SO MUCH_

_I just want to cry_

_I am crying_

_STOP IT _

_"I've been waiting for you," he says, and he starts to walk toward me, and his tail and... and things are swinging slowly because he's taking his time although he has something in his hand oh - _

_that's what he destroyed my shikigami with_

_...it looks sharp_

_"You came," he says, and he sounds... so amazed, like he never thought I would come. _

_"I did," I croak, and I sound just as pathetic as I feel; I never was any good at acting._

_He's still coming; and waves of... everything that he sends in front of him are hitting me so hard. I never want to think again, to move again - to have anything to DO with magic again and yet I MUST_

_keep thinking_

_about the bodies_

_about the pain_

_about the children who are going to die if I don't - if I don't - _

_I don't care I don't care I don't care BUT I MUST_

_"I gave you a chance, you know," he says, stopping right in front of me, but I can't look up; I'm curled on the ground, around my heart which I think is trying to burn a hole in me. "I let you have what you wanted - but you still came. It's only your fault what happens now."_

_My fault? But you... you did everything - _

_"What... do you mean, a ch... chance?" almost vomiting_

_oh gods, I'm gagging, don't start that now, if I throw up I'm be COMPLETELY vulnerable_

_...like it even mattersW_

_He smiles. "I gave you a valid excuse to stop being the Sumeragi clan head. If you'd let Seishirou keep you, then you wouldn't be here - would you?"_

_He has a point; a stupid, valid point, as if I could have known Seishirou-san wanted to "keep" me with all his talk of killing and stalking - and damn me because so much of my heart wishes it could have been true. _

_And that's just. Too. Bad. I can't afford to think about this right now...._

_"I... have to destroy you," I inform him, and he laughs, like I knew he would, like everybody does, like everyone ALWAYS does I'm so pathetic they always - _

_stop_

_focus_

_"Destroy me? Destroy ME?" he laughroars, as if I said the funniest, stupidest thing on earth, and maybe I did - but it's still what I have to do_

_still what I have to do_

_"You cannot destroy me, **boy**," he says, spitting it, and his spittle burns. "Your ancestor could not, and he was seven years your senior. No, I'm sorry, my little prideful Sumeragi, but you are going to die here - not I. And with you dies your line. Neither you nor your sister will live to continue it."_

_no_

_...no - you don't_

_"I can't let you do that," I say, wheezing, it hurts so much to talk, and even though it burns and nauseates and stings all at once... I push myself up enough to look him in the eye_

_ - because that's what you should do when you're about to kill someone_

_"And why not, little boy?" he asks, amused, standing right above my body as if daring me to touch him_

_or to beg_

_And I feel sick when I tell him... because this is something I don't want to be involved in, either. "Because I'm a seal of heaven. I have to be alive in 1999 - and if in order to do that, I have to kill you... then so be it."_

_"No."_

_He's shocked, taking a moment to process, and he steps back, but it's too late. I've begun my spell, releasing my power all the way like I never do, like I dare not do for anything other than the ultimate punishment of death_

_"NO!"_

_He can't move; the spell I've used, pressing an ofuda to the ground, shoots a pillar of light right up through the center of his body and into the sky like a spotlight - and he begins screaming because he can't move and gods it sounds HORRIBLE_

_...and I immediately begin to feel better._

_"**NO!**" He didn't know this was coming, he had no way of knowing, and I KNOW that he didn't - and I would feel badly for him, except that I can't feel badly for anyone right now but myself_

_...I can't help but notice how easy that would make it to live_

_**"NOOOO!"** And he's gurgling sounds, thrashing in the air and trying to escape, but it's too late; I've opened my kekkai - the real kekkai, the one only I and five other people in the world can do because of the end of the world - inside his body, willing it to spread... and he's a demon. Not a human. Not one meant to be protected by the kekkai._

_He begins to tear._

_He's ripping, ripping - tearing, so messy, so much blood, so much liquid I can't even identify and stench and horror and filth and I can't throw up yet and he's pleading with me to stop - _

_ - and there are tears on my cheeks now, real tears, because I'm sorry that anyone has to die this horribly, even though he deserves it - _

_and there is a sound like wet cloth tearing, or like sausage skin ripping - _

_...and he's gone._

_There was an explosion - I could feel it, not hear it, in my eardrums, and stuff splatted all across me and past me and into the tree - and_

_and he's gone_

_Just like that. _

_He's gone._

_...deafening silence_

_I _

_so dizzy_

_the ground rushes up to meet me, and it hurts when I land, but at least I didn't throw up_

_...the fallen sakura petals are soft. I'll sleep here for now._

* * *

Subaru awoke in his own bed, which filled him with both relief and joy - but oddly enough, he wasn't sure why. Sitting up gingerly, he rubbed his eyes sleepily, feeling hungry though a little nauseated, and jumped very badly when Hokuto burst into the room.

"Su-ba-RUUUU!" she shouted, and leapt at him immediately.

"Ack!" he said, and then they were both laughing and hugging each other and crying for pure, lovely joy. 

"I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm SO sorry," Hokuto cried, clinging to him as though he were going to float away, and Subaru laughed softly as he comforted.

"Yes, of course, Hokuto-chan, but... for what?"

Blinking, she pulled back and stared at him. "For what? What do you MEAN, for what? Don't you remember?"

He blinked back at her and rubbed his head. "Um... no. Remember what?"

Hokuto stared for a moment more, then leapt off the bed and back into the other room, calling for Seishirou at the top of her lungs.

"Gah," Subaru said softly to himself, wondering exactly what he'd done wrong and just what he was supposed to remember. There was SOMEthing in the back of his mind, it was true... something about... about a demon, or... ancestors, or... hm. None of it seemed to make sense now.

Hokuto returned, dragging Seishirou by one hand; Seishirou, who looked grim and very concerned, and sitting by the bed, immediately checked Subaru's pulse.

"Um... Seishirou-san?" Subaru said, very confused. "What's going on?"

Seishirou blinked at him; it seemed to be the choice response of the day. "You don't remember, Subaru-kun?"

"No," affirmed Subaru, looking more uncomfortable and hoping that whatever it was, it didn't involve him doing something wrong. "What's going on?"

"You don't remember fighting the demon? The chaos in Tokyo? The riots?"

It was Subaru's turn to stare. "...riots?"

"Do you even remember me finding you and taking you home, Subaru-kun?" Seishirou continued, clearly concerned, fingers gently resting on Subarur's forehead as he checked for fever. 

"...finding me?" Subaru repeated weakly, now having no idea what happened and not entirely sure if he wanted to.

"Oh, Subaru!" Hokuto said, and attacked him with another vicious hug. "At least you're all right," she said, and he could feel tears drip from her cheeks onto his shoulder. Concerned, he held her tightly and looked helplessly at Seishirou. 

Seishirou sighed deeply and sat back, pensive. "I think Hokuto-chan is right, Subaru-kun," he diagnosed, leaning forward and watching them both closely. "We can fill you in on how our brave Subaru-kun saved us all later; right now the important thing IS that you are all right." Seishirou looked at him, somber and sincere; and then he smiled. "And, I might add, looking positively adorable in polka-dot pajamas!"

Subaru cringed. "SEIshirou-san!" he protested, but Hokuto was already laughing, and it was contagious; within a few seconds, all three of them were laughing, projecting all mutual stress relief into the the sound. It was togetherness and safety and peace; and very shortly, Subaru knew it was all going to be okay.

* * *

_And there it is. The demon is completely destroyed. Subaru-kun's grandmother will be all right, although I'm sure that back injury will come back to haunt her later. And Tanaka the lawyer most unfortunately killed Suzuki the lawyer; but as there was no end of mysterious deaths and damages done during this period for which no one can explain themselves, it was accepted as simply part of the great unknown and tucked away as soon as possible - most fortunately including Tsunami's firey death._

_Of course, Subaru-kun has not and will not recall what happened to him in the park and just before, but that's only to be expected. I did find him first, after all; and some of those nasty memories simply wouldn't do for my poor Subaru-kun to process._

_Only four months remain in the Bet now, Subaru-kun; still, you have failed to make me feel anything of note, other than a temporary distraction during dull periods. This, also, is only to be expected._

_Only four more months, Subaru-kun; and then I will take your life. Four more months of freedom._

_I suppose the least I can do is to make them happy for you - ne?_

* * *

And in the veterinary clinic, away from prying eyes, Seishirou smiled like a killer for a long, long time. 

_**(fine)**_


End file.
